Goodwill Ambassador Believes in Job : Christopher Duong, Police Officer

Each workday, Christopher Duong canvasses the streets of Little Saigon, going door to door with advice about crime prevention.

Duong, 29, joined the Westminster’s police force in February as one of two unsworn and unarmed officers whose job is to teach the sizable refugee community everything from dialing 911 to starting a Neighborhood Watch group.

But the responsibility is a taxing one, he says, because people are hesitant to approach officers, who in Vietnam are commonly violent with residents and take bribes from the influential. And in the United States, they appear confrontational.

“The problem with the American police community is the officers are very straightforward. It’s like a culture shock” for immigrants, Duong said. “We try to break that barrier to say the police are there to protect you.” He advises officers: “Try talking with people, not down to them, to get results.”

On a recent visit to the Asian Garden Mall, Duong and his partner, Ben Cao, spent 30 to 45 minutes talking to each merchant inside.

“When we first walked in, they were intimidated and their eyes were wide open,” Duong recalled. “I broke the ice with a smile and introduced myself as unsworn police service officer for the city of Westminster. “Everything just took off from there. We started talking about the parking lot. There’s not enough light; there are purse snatchings; customers are intimidated because of the gang problem. We sort of get down to a personal level and they talk to me as if I were their son.”

Although 23% of the city’s residents are Vietnamese, 75% of the robbery victims and 46% of the car theft victims were, too, in 1991, Lt. Andrew Hall said.

The department received a $156,000 federal grant in October to hire Duong and his partner, Cao, for the sole purpose of bridging the cultural gap between police officers and the Vietnamese community.

By next year, the pair expect to reach at least 480 residents through monthly visits to local refugee centers, bicycle rides to meet shopkeepers during business hours and the distribution of newsletters in Vietnamese.

“There’s help out there if they’re willing to cooperate,” Duong said. “The things we take for granted are very valuable to new arrivals.”

Duong came to the United States alone at the age of 15, when his parents urged him to avoid the Communist army’s draft in Saigon. His father had worked as a ticket salesman in a bus station for more than three years to raise about $1,000 needed for Duong’s trip.

With only a $50 bill stuffed inside his sock, Duong boarded a wooden boat with 84 others. Three days later, a Malaysian Navy patrol boat stopped them. At gunpoint, the passengers were forced to disembark on a deserted island, where they survived on coconuts for 15 days.

Duong eventually reached an uncle living in Los Angeles. He stayed with him, learning English by watching television news and Bugs Bunny cartoons with his nephews.

He graduated from high school with honors and joined the Marine Corps.

When he first got the police job, he said: “I didn’t think the goal was that big as far as going out to lecture new arrivals. But now I have a different point of view.

“The project we’re involved in is very important. We don’t know what the response is going to be from the Vietnamese community.”