Indochinese Liaison : Garden Grove OKs Bilingual Police Aides

Vietnamese leaders welcomed a move by the Garden Grove Police Department Thursday to hire two bilingual immigrants to act as liaisons to the city’s large Indochinese community but said that such a change might have headed off a lot of problems if it had been implemented much sooner.

The program will be funded by a $77,953 grant from the state Office of Criminal Justice Planning, the first grant in the nation to deal specifically with crime problems in an Indochinese community, according to executive director G. Albert Howenstein.

Police Chief Frank Kessler said the two non-sworn (and unarmed) officers will probably be hired within two months and flyers advertising the posts will be distributed within the local community and in cities with substantial Indochinese populations across the country. At least one of the liaisons will be recruited from Orange County’s immigrant community.

Coordination, Interpretation

They will attempt to coordinate victim-witness and crime prevention programs, assist Indochinese senior citizens and act as interpreters when needed.

Lt. John Robertson, who will oversee the operation, said many Indochinese have a basic mistrust of police that has hampered efforts to control crime, which he estimated at about twice the citywide average in districts with high Southeast Asian populations. Most of the city’s Indochinese live in areas near Bushard Street-Westminster Avenue and Brookhurst Street-Trask Avenue intersections.

He said recent increases in crime statistics reflect the immigrants’ new willingness to inform police, rather than an actual surge in criminal activity. “We’ll ask them, ‘Why didn’t you tell us about this before,’ ” he said, “and they’ll say, ‘We thought you were part of it.’ You’ve got to remember that the police in Vietnam were the ones picking up the extortion payments.”

“I think there’s not been a lot of effort to recruit (officers) from the Vietnamese community,” said Thi Cao, president of the Vietnamese League of Orange County. “Up until now, it’s been good but not good enough because there’s still that mistrust (of police). If we have a police officer who can understand the newcomers’ culture and explain how the local law works, they will start to cooperate.”

Some Won’t Call Police

Cao said people often call the league instead of police for help after a crime. “Many times, we get a call at home at 2 or 3 a.m. For example, maybe there’s been a fight between neighbors,” he said. “We tell them to call the police but they refuse. They insist that we come over and call the police from their living room.”

“I would have preferred to see it done before but I still applaud their efforts,” said Tony Lam, president of the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce in Orange County. “In any kind of public office that has a lot of dealings with the Vietnamese community, I think this sort of approach is very apropos.”

Lam said he believes that suspicion of the police was highest shortly after the Indochinese settled in Orange County, but he stressed that the situation is different now. “It’s a different ballgame here in the U.S.,” he said. “Back in Vietnam, there was always a mistrust between the people and the police but a lot of people have been here 10 years now. They realize we should establish good relations because the benefits go both ways.”

A check of other police departments in the area showed that none have Indochinese officers, although the Westminster Police Department recently hired a Vietnamese who should be on the force in about 12 weeks, according to Officer Larry Woessner. All the departments maintain a network of interpreters.

Problems of Applicants

Kessler said citizenship requirements had blocked many Indochinese applicants for police positions and the “two or three” who did apply were rejected for reasons such as failure of a medical exam or language barriers. “I’d like to get sworn Vietnamese officers but even if we could, the labor laws prevent me from just hiring one and putting him on special assignment,” he said, explaining that new officers must go through at least two years of routine traffic and desk work before getting such specialized duty.

Quang Nguyen, a case worker with World Relief, a refugee resettlement agency with an office in Garden Grove, said he doesn’t see any negative attitude on the part of Indochinese toward careers as police officers and agreed with Kessler that the citizenship requirement has been a major obstacle. “Most of them know they can make a lot more money in private business,” he added, “and it’s not as dangerous.”

The community service officer program will last for 13 months, after which police officials hope the state will renew the funding. If the state decides against continuing, at least one of the two will be hired on a permanent basis, Robertson said.