Hot Line Veto Disappoints Asian Leaders : Language: Bill would have set up statewide phone service so that non-English speakers could report crimes

Asian community leaders in Orange County expressed disappointment Wednesday that Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed a bill that would have created a statewide, toll-free hot line so that Asian residents could report crimes in their native languages.

“This is very sad,” said Linh Tran, a counselor for the Crime Prevention Program of the Vietnamese Community of Orange County Inc. For those who cannot speak English, “there are emergencies that happen, and they do not know who to call to help them right away,” Tran said.

Because of language and cultural barriers, such as mistrust of authorities or a desire to keep misfortunes private, many Asians do not contact police for help, those interviewed said.

In Orange County, fewer than a third of all crimes in Asian communities are reported to authorities, according to Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove), who had sponsored the legislation, AB 509.

The hot line would have fostered trust in callers, who would feel more comfortable discussing their fears with someone who shares the language, Umberg said. It also would have provided Asian crime victims with information, ranging from treatment for psychological trauma to filing claims for property losses.

Wilson vetoed the bill last week because the state’s Victim-Witness Assistance Fund doesn’t have enough money for the project, he said in a letter to Assembly members.

“The desirability of obtaining timely response to a non-English speaking crime victim argues for placing the needed foreign language capability in the police dispatcher within the victims’ community rather than in Sacramento to be relayed,” Wilson wrote.

Umberg said his legislation would have provided for a toll-free 800 telephone number answered by trained, bilingual staff. This would have been more cost-effective than trying to install Asian police officers in individual city departments, he said.

“This demonstrates that he or his staff does not understand the magnitude of the problem,” Umberg said. “How many more victims have to be created before the governor recognizes that this was a cost-effective way to solve the problem?”

If the governor had approved the legislation, it would have set up a three-year pilot program by Jan. 1 at the cost of $240,000 a year.

Umberg got the idea for the statewide service from the Garden Grove Police Department, which has a Vietnamese-American officer and a Korean-American officer working in its Crime Prevention Office.

The two officers staff telephone lines in their native languages several hours a day and run community outreach programs in Asian communities. Callers can leave messages on answering machines when the officers are away from the phones.

The Police Department’s service results in more than five arrests every two months, according to Lt. Kevin Raney.

The state Department of Justice estimated that the vetoed hot line would have helped reduce crime and gang activity in areas heavily populated by Asian residents by 20% to 30% in the first few years, Umberg said.

California’s Asian population, at 2.8 million, is the fastest-growing in the nation, according to U.S. Census figures. About 250,000 Asians live in Orange County, where the number has nearly tripled in the last decade, according to Census figures.

Although community leaders are not happy with the veto of Umberg’s bill, they said they understood Wilson’s budgetary problems.

“I’m sorry it didn’t pass,” said Irene Pham, projects coordinator for the Cambodian Family Inc., a social service group. “The hot line was an innovative idea. Maybe there’s funding from somewhere else for such a good idea.”

Ho Chung, president of the Korean American Assn., said he too is disappointed that the project was scratched.

“The budget cuts so many things these days,” Chung said.