Micronesian Blues

On April 1, 2010, American Heroes at the Watering Hole will feature with former Marine and deputy sheriff Bryan Vila, on his experiences as an international police trainer. Vila was a member of the US Marine Corps from 1964 to 1967. His service included a tour in Vietnam. In 1969, Bryan Vila joined the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. By the time he left the Sheriff’s Dept. in 1978, he had attained the rank of sergeant. He continued this law enforcement career for “six years as a police chief helping the emerging nations of Micronesia develop innovative law enforcement strategies, and two years in Washington, D.C., as a federal law enforcement officer.” Currently, “Bryan Vila, PhD, is a professor of criminal justice at WSU Spokane. Prior to joining WSU in July 2005, he directed the Division of Crime Control and Prevention Research at the Dept. of Justice’s National Institute of Justice.” Bryan Vila is the co-author of three books: Capital Punishment in the United States: A Documentary History; The Role of Police in American Society: A Documentary History; and, Micronesian Blues: The Adventures of an American Cop in Paradise. And, the author of Tired Cops: The Importance of Managing Police Fatigue. According to the description of Micronesian Blues: The Adventures of an American Cop in Paradise, “Training competent, independent police forces in developing nations is critical to U.S. efforts to promote democracy and stability worldwide. Yet all too often we simply take American cops or military troops, drop them into the middle of a foreign land, and leave them to figure out the enormous challenges of cross-cultural police training on their own. Three decades ago, in the tropical island setting of Micronesia, Vila was one of these trainers. After serving as a Marine in Vietnam and then working as a street cop in the ghettos and barrios of Los Angeles for nine years, he expected the job to be a paid vacation in paradise. He couldn't have been more wrong."