COLUMN ONE : Crime and the Sound of Silence : Gang activity is victimizing Southeast Asian immigrants, but they are the least likely to cooperate with police. Culture is a big barrier.

On the evening members of the Pomona Boys opened fire on Vietnamese diners at the My Nguyen Restaurant in Garden Grove, police heard from one potential witness after another--”I was in the restroom. I didn’t see anything.”

The cafe’s tiny lavatory must have been a tight squeeze. More than a dozen people said they happened to be in there the exact moment six patrons were shot, two fatally, as payback for a flirtatious look at a gang member’s date.

“No one wanted to admit to seeing anything,” said Detective R. D. Shave. “Later it turned out that they did see what happened.”

By January, more than four years after the shooting, four young Vietnamese and a Cambodian had been convicted and sent to prison for first-degree murder and assault. Toughest to crack, police said, was the Vietnamese culture.

Although polls suggest that Southeast Asian immigrants are more concerned about crime than any other segment of American society, they are the least likely to cooperate with the criminal justice system, frustrating law enforcement agencies across the nation.

From Orange County to Washington, and from Houston to Toronto, Southeast Asians generally do not call police, cooperate with investigators or testify in court unless delicately coaxed by officers schooled in their customs. In the process, they have unwittingly made themselves perfect victims.

“They associate the police with trouble, and if they can stay away from them they will,” said Thien N. Cao, a refugee who is now a police liaison officer for Garden Grove’s large Vietnamese community. “They need to learn that if they close an eye, the trouble is still there.”

Authorities blame cultural differences, language, unpleasant experiences with corrupt police in native lands and an intense fear of retaliation that often stand between peace officers and the growing refugee community.

But part of the problem might be the police and courts themselves. Southeast Asians say they often see law enforcement as ineffective and unable to protect victims and witnesses from retaliation by gang members. Perhaps even more than most Americans, Southeast Asian refugees are frustrated with bail and sentencing options, such as probation, that quickly return criminals to their streets.

“Police take a report and nothing happens. They just ask a lot of questions,” said Chongge S. Vang, national board secretary for Lao Family Community Inc., a statewide agency that refers Laotian refugees to appropriate social service agencies.

Evidence of the problem crops up in case after case:

* A Cambodian robbery victim in Long Beach decided to drop charges this year against several Southeast Asian gang members after someone spray-painted the word “pigeon,” on the wall of his house.

* In Arlington, Va., a Vietnamese youth who was attacked with a machete four years ago received a visit in the hospital by friends of the defendant, also Vietnamese. They said nothing good could come from the prosecution and persuaded him to recant his statements to police in a deposition taken by the defense lawyer.

* Two years ago in Garden Grove, a Vietnamese gang member stayed behind in a shopping center parking lot and watched as police asked if anyone knew who shot to death the youth on the ground. None of the witnesses--all Vietnamese--would point out the gang member, although it later turned out that some of them knew that he was involved.

Dismayed law enforcement agencies are fighting back with bilingual officers, Southeast Asian gang units, substations in refugee neighborhoods, community liaison officers and small details such as bilingual business cards.

There has been progress, authorities say, but Southeast Asian crime remains sufficiently troublesome that gangs could become entrenched, presenting the specter of Mafia-style crime with ties to Asia.

Police already compare today’s Vietnamese gangs to the nascent Chinese gangs in San Francisco 20 years ago. Those gangs harassed shop owners, demanded free meals and abused people. There was random street violence, but the community did not turn to law enforcement for help. Those gangs are now well-organized, police say.

“The gangs are becoming more sophisticated and in some cases we’re outnumbered,” said Orange County Deputy Probation Officer Robert C. Gates, who worked on an Asian-gang task force for four years. “There was no anticipation of what we were getting into as far as education, jobs, the police and courts by letting these people come here after the Vietnam War.”

Since the fall of Saigon in 1975, 1 million to 1.2 million Southeast Asian refugees have resettled in the United States. About 130,000, the largest concentration in the country, are in the Orange County cites of Garden Grove, Westminster and Santa Ana.

Long Beach now is home to about 50,000 Cambodians. The rest of the Southeast Asian population is scattered across the United States with large communities in Houston; Minneapolis; New York; Seattle; the San Francisco Bay Area; Washington, D.C., and its suburbs.

Once here, Southeast Asians developed their own crime problems. Fraud involving welfare, state-paid medical benefits and auto insurance is widespread, along with gambling, prostitution, drug trafficking and thefts of computer microchips. Police say stolen and hijacked goods upon which no duty or tax has been paid repeatedly make their way into groceries and restaurants.

Highly mobile street gangs extort and steal, but their main contribution to criminal techniques appears to be the home invasion, a well-planned, often violent armed robbery at the victim’s house.

Less obvious is an undercurrent of political terrorism that has occasionally surfaced against journalists or those perceived to be sympathetic to the Communist regime in Vietnam. In a decade, nine Vietnamese publishers and newsmen have been attacked. Four were killed, including a Garden Grove publisher who died in an arson fire in 1987.

Southeast Asians say crime is a tremendous concern. According to a 1989 Los Angeles Times poll, 41% of 400 Vietnamese surveyed in Orange County said crime and gangs were their top concerns, while 87% thought they were serious problems. Countywide, only 10% of the general population cited crime as the No. 1 concern.

Although Southeast Asians don’t necessarily have a higher crime rate than the general population, police across the nation estimate that 60% to 90% of the crimes committed in their communities, including serious offenses, are never reported. Although no accurate statistics are available, authorities say that level is substantially greater than under-reporting for the general public.

Consider the experience of Detective Phil G. Hannum, a Falls Church, Va., police officer who co-founded the International Assn. of Asian Crime Investigators. A few years ago, a Vietnamese merchant tipped him to a daytime home invasion in a Washington, D.C., suburb. Gang members stole gold and cash, then pistol-whipped several family members.

“None of them had called the police,” Hannum said, “I did it for them.”

The family told him that it was their third home invasion. None of the previous attacks had been reported.

Police and Southeast Asian social workers say that in many cases, the lack of cooperation results from ignorance about American police, cultural differences and a value system that conflicts with the American criminal justice system.

The Vietnamese even have a saying, “Vo Phuc Dao Tung Dinh .” Literally translated, it means, “No happiness in going to court.”

In Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, the determination of guilt or innocence rests with a judge or community leader, not a jury. Bail is either unheard of or almost never granted. It is common practice for citizens to give information about a crime to police, who then present it in court.

Culturally, historians say, Southeast Asians are influenced by philosophies and religious teachings that stress harmony and the peaceful settlement of disputes. As a result, they say, Southeast Asians sometimes shy away from direct confrontations and try to handle problems themselves to avoid any embarrassment or “loss of face” to them or their families.

“They think, ‘If I have a problem with a gang member, I should talk to my brothers and relatives for advice and protection, or ask my friends for help to guard the business,’ ” said Nhu Hao Duong, a refugee coordinator for the Orange County Social Services Agency. “Only in extreme cases do they go to the police.”

But even if they understand the American system and can put aside their values, language barriers often preclude any effective cooperation with law enforcement.

“There are constant breakdowns in communication,” said Detective Norm Sorenson, the only Long Beach investigator who specializes in the city’s Cambodian community. “They are ashamed because they can’t speak the language and they get flustered when talking to your average blue-suiter. Sometimes I think they fear the bad guys less than calling the police.”

Southeast Asians also have a hard time understanding probation or bail, a situation exploited by suspects and gang members. Criminals spread rumors in the community that they have bribed authorities to get out of jail, making witnesses and victims feel particularly vulnerable, police say.

“I’m afraid to follow gang members out and take down license numbers,” said the manager of a Vietnamese restaurant in Garden Grove. “If I do, they shoot, they throw rocks, they turn over tables. I call the police, I get more damage and nothing happens. I can’t blame police. They just are not in here.”

The proprietor, who requested anonymity, pointed out three bullet holes in the back wall of the restaurant and scores of unpaid dinner receipts from gang members pinned to a display case and the wall of his office.

Two people have been shot in the parking lot outside his cafe during the last three years. He says his customers and waiters are now protected by bullet-proof windows and handguns placed under countertops.

Police say the cultural hurdles have made it especially difficult to recruit Southeast Asians for undercover roles and have prompted witnesses to recant court testimony or statements to police.

In one case, a jeweler in Westminster’s Little Saigon backed out of an undercover investigation at the last minute, ending an otherwise well-planned attempt to catch a group of extortionists hitting businesses for “protection” money.

Robert A. Burton, a district attorney investigator who participated in the case, recalled that the jeweler completely changed his story before the operation began and that he said he was not really paying money to any gang members.

Before he backed out, police had placed surveillance equipment in his store and marshaled about 30 officers and a helicopter to follow the suspects to other businesses.

“It is very difficult to convince them that they (police) are friends,” said Cung Pham, a project coordinator at a St. Anselm’s Episcopal Church refugee center in Garden Grove. “They can’t get over their history very easily. The only thing is education.”

Pham said that in Southeast Asian homelands, police were often low paid, uneducated and corrupt, employing such methods as coerced confessions, beatings and immediate jailings. Under Communist and prior regimes, police also were used to enforce political ideology.

For local law enforcement, the culture gap has meant committing large numbers of officers to time-consuming investigations that often result in no arrests or limited prosecutions.

A 1986 Garden Grove police study, which polled 73 detectives and 296 patrol officers in California, suggested that Southeast Asians are more likely than the general population to be unfriendly to officers, to refuse to cooperate for fear of reprisals, to withhold useful information and to ask police if they can handle the situation themselves.

Half the detectives surveyed said they would prefer not being assigned to Southeast Asian cases because the witnesses are so uncooperative and the investigations take so long.

Another study by Garden Grove police indicates that it can take up to five times longer to handle a call involving Southeast Asians than calls involving other ethnic groups.

Last month in Costa Mesa, the slaying of a family of four Vietnamese could not be explained as a murder-suicide until a week later, when police by chance found relatives who could provide information to help unravel what happened. A patrol officer saw them on their way to a funeral home in one victim’s car.

“I don’t believe the Vietnamese have a great deal of trust for the police, and that’s why they didn’t come to us. It was our biggest stumbling block,” said Costa Mesa Capt. Thomas Lazar. “They must understand our position is to help them.”

To get that message across, police across the country are trying to commit more personnel to Southeast Asian communities and to develop national networks of information. The U.S. Department of Justice is trying to establish Asian advisory committees in some cities to address crime issues.

Locally, police departments are increasingly relying on neighborhood substations, a limited supply of Vietnamese officers, investigators trained in Asian crime, and a host of public relations programs in which officers get involved in the community.

“What I found with the Vietnamese is that they want to know you personally before they start dealing with you on a professional level,” said James R. Badey, a retired Arlington, Va., detective and Southeast Asian crime expert. “Generally, they did not come forward to report crimes until family members started describing me as ‘uncle’ or calling me their ‘American Daddy.’ ”

Police say the model programs are in Westminster and Garden Grove, which pioneered the use of community liaisons, education programs, driver-training classes for Southeast Asians, and anonymous hot lines and post office boxes for reporting crime.

In Garden Grove, police once enclosed bilingual crime-prevention tips in city water bills mailed to the Vietnamese community. Another time, they lured hundreds of Vietnamese to an open house by promising medical-alert bracelets.

Officers must spend considerable time--even years in some investigations--with victims and witnesses to gain their trust and get them to cooperate. In some cases, detectives said, it has meant shepherding them through the court process, even baby-sitting their children.

In Houston, police officer Al Lotz, who understands how important the family is in Vietnamese culture, said he tries to foster good will by occasionally tracking down the runaway children of Vietnamese parents, even if they are legally adults.

“You have to be out there, be seen and talk to them every day to explain our system,” said Westminster Detective Marcus Frank, who specializes in Asian crime. “You have to drive them to court and sit with them, otherwise they get scared. If you want your case carried through, you have to do this.”

Police administrators, however, worry about overtime and the number of personnel this approach takes. It has confronted them repeatedly with an uncomfortable dilemma: Whether to commit officers to help a traditionally uncooperative community when there are not enough resources to serve citizens who are willing to cooperate.

“Look, there are plenty of willing people screaming at our door for help, and we don’t have enough time in the day to help them,” said Long Beach detective Sorenson, whose department has a severe shortage of officers. “It makes it real easy to pass up the case of a person who doesn’t want to cooperate. This is not a matter of liking or disliking Southeast Asians; we just have to do the prosecutable cases.”

At the same time, law enforcement officials warn that more needs to be done. Although Southeast Asian gangs are younger and less sophisticated than their Japanese and Chinese counterparts, they are beginning to emerge as a major organized crime threat in the United States.

FBI Director William S. Sessions cautioned in a speech last month in San Francisco that local, state and federal law enforcement must realize the enormity of the Asian crime threat and spend the time and money to fight it.

Made up almost exclusively of refugees, Southeast Asian gangs have been described as loose-knit packs that often organize to commit a series of home invasions or other crimes before they flee to other parts of the country.

Such activity is expected to increase with the arrival of the latest Southeast Asian immigrants, many of whom are uneducated, without family, young and poor--some of the prerequisites, police say, to becoming a gang member. As a group, they are in many ways different from the more Westernized arrivals who immigrated immediately after the Communist takeover of Saigon in 1975.

“Youth problems will increase as more immigrants come,” said Tony Doan, a program manager at Vietnamese Community of Orange County Inc., which refers immigrants to social service agencies. “Many new arrivals don’t have parents. They are lonely, have no family and no direction to follow. If you don’t have something to do, you will do something wrong.”

SOUTHEAST ASIANS AND CRIME

Immigration Center Poll

Two polls by the Immigration and Refugee Planning Center in Orange showed that Southeast Asians believe crime is a very serious problem in their communities.

In the first survey in 1981: 45% said crime was a major concern.

In the second survey in 1984: 64% said crime was a major concern.

The second survey also showed that 58% of those polled said they wanted better police protection.

Times Orange County Poll

In 1989, 400 Vietnamese polled in Orange County: 41% said crime and gangs were the worst problems they faced. 87% said crime was a serious problem.

Countywide, only 10% of those polled out of the general population said crime was their No. 1 concern.

Detective and Patrol Officer Opinion Survey

Former Garden Grove Police Capt. Stanley Knee and UCI Prof. Arnold Binder surveyed 73 detectives and 296 patrol officers who served in four California communities where Southeast Asians represented at least 5% of the population. Here are some of the significant findings of their opinions:

PATROL OFFICERS

Southeast Asians are are more reluctant to report crimes than the general population.

80% agreed

9% said they found no difference

11% had no opinion

Calls for service from Southest Asians take significantly longer to handle than calls for service from other ethnic groups.

74% agreed

10% had no opinion

16% saw no difference

Police departments need to provide more training on customs of Southest Asian immigrants.

64% agreed

14% had no opinion

22% said more training is not needed

DETECTIVES

Crimes committed against Southest Asian refugees by Asian suspects are more difficult to investigate than crimes committed by other ethnic groups.

98% agreed

2% had no opinion

Southest Asian crime victims are less likely to testify in court than victims from other ethnic groups.

82% agreed

11% had no opinion

7% said Southest Asians would testify

Mafia-style organizations could be forming in Southest Asian communities.

83% agreed

11% had no opinion

6% did not think so

In general, the patrol officers and detectives listed the language barrier, the victims’ fear of reprisal and lack of knowledge about the criminal justice system as their biggest obstacles.