Fred H. Lau

Fred H. Lau (Chinese: 劉百安, born June 26, 1949) is a former chief of police for San Francisco from 1996–2002. He was the first Asian American to ever hold that position, and has been called the first Chinese-American to lead the police in any major American city. He is the current TSA Federal Security Director of the San Francisco International Airport.

A third-generation San Franciscan, Lau was born at San Francisco Chinese Hospital in Chinatown, San Francisco; he grew up in and around his family's business (Wing Duck Import/Export) on Grant Avenue in Chinatown. He attended Garfield Elementary and Francisco Middle schools, graduated from Galileo High School. While a teenager, he participated in the American Friends Service Committee anti-gang Youth for Service program. He attended and graduated from City College of San Francisco, and eventually obtained a BA (Liberal Arts) in 1997 from San Francisco State University.

After successfully challenging a 5'8" height requirement in 1970, Lau entered the SF Police Academy in 1971 and joined the San Francisco Police Department following graduation - becoming only the fifth Chinese-American member of the SFPD. It is not documented whether Lau participated in the 1975 police-officers strike, although supervisors, inspectors and African-American officers were non-participants. He became an inspector/sergeant, eventually rising to head the SFPD Bureau of Inspectors. As a lieutenant, he headed the sniper unit. In 1977 he was assigned to the SFPD Gang Task Force after the Golden Dragon Massacre. Lau served on the SFPD Discharge Review Board until 1995; this panel came under severe scrutiny in San Francisco Examiner articles for failing to hold officers accountable in police-involved shootings.

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