REGION : Community-Minded Officer Wins Award

Officer Webster Wong was just toiling away at the job he loves the other day when John Lee dropped by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Rampart Division with a message from Mayor Richard Riordan: Wong would receive the Mayor’s Award at a dinner celebrating Asian Pacific Heritage Month.

“I was surprised,” said Wong, 30, a seven-year police veteran. “I think I’m no different than any other officer, I just have an opportunity to establish closer ties between the department and the community.”

Lee agreed that Wong, who is of Chinese American and Mexican descent, is just a “regular guy,” but said he has worked hard at developing grass-roots ties with residents to create innovative crime-fighting programs. Wong’s supervisors reported that he had done some “really great work” but had never been recognized, Lee said.

“I think one of the (good) things is that he’s not politicized,” said Lee, a Riordan aide. “He’s doing it just because he’s doing it.”

Wong is reluctant to talk about himself, but he’s eager to talk about what he has accomplished working with residents of Westlake, Pico-Union, Koreatown, Silverlake and Echo Park.

For four years, he has organized a haunted house for children at the police station, giving families a safe place to celebrate. Last year, he organized 1,500 residents who marched to the station on National Night Out, a nationwide march against crime.

“I really feel that the community is coming together,” said Wong. “They are able to meet together and share ideas so they understand that the community is bigger than just their own block.”

Wong and several other honorees will be recognized May 23 during the 17th annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Dinner at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel. The dinner is part of a monthlong celebration organized by the Asian Pacific American Heritage Committee, which has coordinated events each year since former Mayor Tom Bradley initiated the commemoration in 1978.

The following is a partial listing of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month events:

* Today, 1-3 p.m., Mother’s Day paper flower-making at the Japanese American National Museum, 369 E. First St., Little Tokyo. (213) 625-0414. (Free)

* May 18, 7 p.m., Asian American Advertising and Public Relations Alliance, Horizon Awards to recognize excellence in campaigns targeting Asian markets. New Otani Hotel, 120 S. Los Angeles St., Little Tokyo. (213) 939-9088. ($55 members, $65 non-members)

* May 18, 19, 7 p.m., festival of new Asian American theater, film and video works created at UCLA, UCLA Fowler Auditorium, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles. (213) 382-8022. (Free)

* May 19, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., Asian Pacific Islander Older Adult Festival, Angelus Plaza Senior Activity Center, 255 S. Hill St., Los Angeles. (213) 623-4948. (Free)

* May 20, Family Free Day at Pacific Asia Museum, features “Splendors of the Moghuls,” a celebration of Pakistani culture, 46 N. Los Robles Ave., Pasadena. (818) 449-2742, Ext. 31. (Free)

* May 21, 2 p.m. “Wrestling Tigers: Asian American Writers Speak,” poets and writers read from their works to encourage Asian American writers, Japanese American National Museum, 369 E. First St., Little Tokyo. (213) 625-0414. (Free)

* May 25-June 6, Asian Pacific Film & Video Festival, showcase of international Asian Pacific American and Asian films, various locations. Visual Communications, (213) 680-3004. ($7.50 adults, $5.50 for students, seniors and members).

* May 26, Cold Tofu Improv, an evening of comedy, Japanese American National Museum, 369 E. First St., Little Tokyo. (213) 625-0414. (Free)