NM Tech Assoc. VP Dan Walsh named ILEA Director

by Jack Swickard

SOCORRO, N.M., June 13, 2007 -- Dr. Dan Walsh has been named program manager of the International Law Enforcement Academy in Roswell.

The announcement was made Monday, June 11, in Roswell by Dr. Van Romero, vice president for research and economic development at New Mexico Tech.

Walsh, who has many years of experience working with law-enforcement training programs at Louisiana State University and New Mexico Tech, is associate vice president for research and economic development at New Mexico Tech.

ILEA-Roswell is a U.S. Department of State program operated under a cooperative agreement by New Mexico Tech.

Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell, Sam Houston State University and Science Applications International Corp. are partners in the consortium headed by New Mexico Tech to operate ILEA-Roswell.

Walsh succeeds Dr. Michael Hensley as ILEA-Roswell program manager. Hensley has been reassigned by the university to be director of academic and corporate relations at the U.S. Department of Energy National Training Center

INTERNATIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ACADEMY-ROSWELL
BACKGROUND
(Updated June 11, 2007)

• The first class started in September 2001, one week before the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
• This class is the 58th to attend ILEA-Roswell.
• This class includes the 2,292nd delegate to attend the program. To date, 71 countries have sent delegates to ILEA-Roswell.
• The class is composed of 35 delegates from Cambodia, Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China.
• New Mexico Tech operates ILEA-Roswell under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of State.
• New Mexico Tech’s partners in the consortium that operates ILEA-Roswell are Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell, Sam Houston State University, and Science Applications International Corporation.
• Dr. Van Romero, vice president for research and economic development at New Mexico Tech, oversees the ILEA-Roswell program as project director.
• Dr. Dan Walsh is the New Mexico Tech program manager for ILEA-Roswell.
• Frank Taylor, retired New Mexico State Police chief, is general manager of ILEA-Roswell.
• Some of the countries that have sent students to ILEA-Roswell are: Singapore, Panama, Latvia, Malaysia, The People’s Republic of China, Angola, Mozambique, Albania, Brunei, Moldova, Russi, The Czech Republic, Swaziland, The Republic of South Africa, Croatia, Lesotho, Namibia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstam. Brazil, Costa Rica, Tajikistan, Tanzania, and Ecuador.
• ILEA-Roswell classes have been taught in 26 languages.
• The U.S. Department of State’s Office of Language Services provides simultaneous interpreters for ILEA-Roswell.
• Simultaneous interpreters can interpret a lecture 2-2.5 seconds behind the instructor.
• Ground was broken for the ILEA-Roswell Building in January 2005 with an explosion.
• The ILEA-Roswell Building was dedicated on Feb. 22, 2006.
• ILEA-Roswell students have a wide array of backgrounds and have included the chief of environmental law enforcement for Brazil, an art theft investigator from Poland, the head of the Colombia national police human rights office, and a member of the Seychelles Supreme Court.
• Senior management classes at ILEA-Roswell are divided into four modules:
  • Criminal Justice in a Global Environment
  • Modern Policing Strategies
  • Key Issues in Policing
  • Global Trends and Emerging Issues in Transnational Crime
    
• Classes range from discussions on leadership and human resources to ethics in policing and the effects of corruption. Human rights receive strong emphasis in the program.
• The International Law Enforcement Academy in Roswell was established through the efforts of Senator Pete Domenici and the late Congressman Joe Skeen.
• The ILEA-Roswell Building was built at a cost of $5.4 million and occupies 24,500 feet.
  • In May 2004, with the help of Senator Domenici, New Mexico Tech received $2.2 million in funding to begin the process of constructing the building.
    o At the beginning of August 2004, New Mexico Tech received $2.1 million from the U.S. Department of State for building construction.
    o In early September 2004, the Roswell City Council approved leasing property to New Mexico Tech for the building.
    o Later in September, New Mexico Tech received the final $1.1 million needed for construction from the Department of State.
    
• The ILEA-Roswell Building is state-of-the-art, with high-speed, wireless Internet and six interpretation booths.
• In April 2005, a young Roswell woman became lost while vacationing in southern Africa. She had left her passport at the youth hostel where she was staying and had passed her bus stop 2 hours earlier. The bus driver dropped her off at a police station. When she visited with some of the officers, she learned several had attended ILEA-Roswell. One of the policemen, accompanied by a woman employee, drove the Roswell woman to the hostel.