Garden Grove : Police Set Up Substation in ‘Little Saigon’ Center

A police substation in the Bolsa Mini-Mall, a shopping center also known as “Little Saigon,” opened Friday as part of the city’s efforts to improve police relations with the Vietnamese community.

The substation, actually just a tiny second-story office identifiable only by lettering on the front door, will be open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. The Police Department’s two Vietnamese-speaking community service officers will operate there during the day, and police officers will be available at all times.

Lt. John Urbanowski, who heads the department’s operations in that section of the city, said the office is aimed at increasing communication between Indochinese residents and police. Relations have been limited in the past because of a distrust of police caused largely by corruption within ranks of the South Vietnamese police force, said Ho N. Au, president of the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce of America, who attended the opening ceremonies.

“The location’s excellent; it blends in well with the environment,” said Ho. He said Vietnamese-American crime victims often come to chamber officials for help rather than go to the police. “Many of these people have become U.S. citizens,” he said. “I try and tell them two things--you must give your undivided loyalty to the United States, and you must obey the law of the land to the letter.”

The office is being rented to the city by the center businesses at a rate of $1 a year.

Urbanowski said some of the problems encountered by the department within the Vietnamese community include recent increases in burglaries and auto thefts. Rumors of extortion rings have been difficult to prove, and Ho said he believes the problems exist, but on a “small scale.”

Police Chief Frank Kessler said he believes the office will pay off in better information about crime in the Indochinese community. “It’s a little office but we have high hopes for a lot of great things,” he said.