Eight Added to Police Force : Indochinese Officers Aim to Serve Community

San Diego Police Community Service Officer Pematokyryrasmey Chunn wants to teach his fellow Cambodian refugees that the police are here to serve and protect the public.

Although that may seem redundant, Chunn said it’s news to many of the 50,000 Indochinese--especially Cambodians--who live in San Diego.

“The refugees who live in the United States have feared authority all their lives,” said Chunn, who became a citizen in April. “They think the police will hurt them. I want to teach them otherwise.”

Chunn and seven other community service officers recruited from the Indochinese community talked about their goals to community leaders gathered at the San Diego Police Department headquarters Wednesday evening.

Officer John Slough said the new community service officers will start work later this month. Slough worked closely with the Indochinese Task Force, an umbrella group of Indochinese and civic groups, in recruiting the new officers.

Slough said the department has many bilingual officers but designating community service officers to work with a particular ethnic group is unusual.

“I know of no other ethnic group that has been served by special officers in San Diego,” Slough said.

However, Dallas, Houston and communities in the Los Angeles area use Indochinese officers to ease problems caused by language barriers. “You have to understand that it is very difficult for the Indochinese to assimilate into American society,” Slough said.

Lt. Louis Scanlon said there are now three Indochinese community service officers and two regular police officers on the detail that works with the Indochinese community. He pointed out that there are 50,000 Indochinese in the city and the eight new officers were needed to bolster the detail.

“Unfortunately, in the past when the Indochinese were victims of crimes they couldn’t tell police officers what had happened,” Slough said.

He said the new officers “speak a variety of dialects and although we won’t be able to accommodate every one, we have been able to assemble a very fluent, diverse group.”

Slough said two of the new recruits are Vietnamese, four are Laotian, one is Cambodian and one is Hmong. They represent the four major ethnic groups among Indochinese in San Diego County.

“There are many members in my community who don’t speak English well enough to deal with the police,” said Nghiep Le, president of the Indochinese Chamber of Commerce.

“Our people are afraid of the police because they cannot communicate with them. They don’t understand that the police can help them. And in turn, because the police don’t understand the language, they get frustrated.”

Le said community leaders “envisioned community service officers as being able to help close the gap between my people and the police.”

The first steps toward such a goal were set into motion last July when Mayor Maureen O’Conner, Councilwoman Gloria McColl and police officials helped community leaders organize the Indochinese Task Force, Le said.

The task force is composed of the Indochinese Chamber of Commerce, the Indochinese Council, the Refugee Coalition and concerned residents.

Scanlon said the department would have liked to recruit more Indochinese officers but was “limited by budget restraints.”The eight openings drew a “large number” of applicants, he said.

The successful applicants entered the Police Academy in late May and are undergoing a “condensed training program,” Slough said. Their training will be completed on June 25, and they should “hit the streets soon afterward,” he said.

Le said there are minor gang problems in San Diego’s Indochinese communities but nothing like those in Los Angeles or Orange counties. “We’re hoping the officers will be able to prevent them from escalating,” Le said.

Slough said the community service officers would work in Linda Vista, Southeast San Diego, Mira Mesa and East San Diego, the areas with the highest Indochinese population.

The officers will conduct special educational programs, write parking tickets, regulate traffic and investigate minor accidents in addition to handling cases where their language abilities are needed, Slough said.

Community service officers receive a starting salary of about $1,300 a month, Slough said.