The Law Enforcement Association of Asian Pacifics (LEAAP) is part of a fraternal organization under the National Asian Peace Officers Association (NAPOA). Here is a brief history of NAPOA.

In 1980, Asian American Peace Officers in New York City were facing a dilemma: As a result of a ruling of a law suit in the federal district court, that decreed the composition of the incoming of the class must reflect the racial balance of the pool of eligible candidates. The ruling applied only to Hispanics and African Americans candidates who made up 1/3 of the candidate pool. Asian Americans weren't included in the ruling as a minority class within the eligible candidate pool, and were included in the majority pool of candidates.

The Asian Jade Society (AJS) had never faced a situation like this before. After making some inquires through the Asian press, contact was made with the Northern California Asian Peace Officers Association (NCAPOA), based in San Francisco and the California Oriental Peace Officers Association (COPOA). They had experience dealing with the inner workings of the political system. Paul Chu and Eugene Lee from the New York Police Department met with Randall Quan and Ben Lee from the Los Angeles Police Department, and Bryon Wong from the San Francisco District Attorney's Office to discuss the problem. After meeting with NCAPOA and COPOA, AJS used the information and advice to get a ruling favorable to Asian-American candidates. The ruling directed the NYPD to give Asian American candidates the same protection as that afforded to Hispanic and African American candidates.

This event demonstrated the need for formal communication among all Asian American Peace Officers. Thus, the National Asian Peace Officers Association (NAPOA) was chartered in 1981 during this meeting in California as a non-profit fraternal organization.
The NAPOA was created by three existing Peace Officers associations from across the country: California Oriental Peace Officers Association, The Northern California Asian Peace Officers Association, and The Asian Jade Society, New York Police Department.
The first NAPOA conference was held during June 1981 in San Francisco, California, hosted by the NCAPOA. Since then, national conferences have been held every year in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Boston, New Orleans, and Las Vegas. The 2008 NAPOA conference will take place in Washington D.C.