WESTMINSTER : 2 New Officers Will Target Asian Crime

The Police Department has received a $155,000 federal grant to hire two public service officers to reduce the disproportionately high crime rate within the Asian community, a police spokesman said Friday.

Lt. Andrew Hall said the new Vietnamese-speaking officers will augment existing drug abuse and anti-gang programs that have been rendered less effective because of language barriers.

Targeting the Little Saigon area, the new officers will also help create business and neighborhood watch programs, teach crime prevention and encourage the community to report and help prosecute crimes.

Crime statistics show that a large percentage of certain crimes are committed against Asian victims. For example, although Asian residents now make up 23% of the city’s population, they are victims in 75% of all robberies and 40% of all auto thefts.

“We haven’t got them into the fold somehow,” Hall said. “We could tell that we were missing a big chunk of the population. Much of the problem stems from recent immigrants’ unfamiliarity or distrust of the legal system.

“They don’t know the system, and they’re frightened of the system,” he said. “Some things are culturally impossible to explain, like the bail system. For instance, a purse snatcher will tell the victim that there’s no point in prosecuting because he’ll pay off the cops,” he said.

Officials hope that the new officers will help educate recent immigrants about the legal system to increase the rate at which crimes are reported.

The grant, from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, will pay the salaries of the two officers for 14 months and also provide equipment and a vehicle for the program. The officers should be hired and trained by Feb. 1, Hall said. The city will decide whether to continue the program when the funding runs out in early 1993.