Little Arabia’s ‘mayor’ eases tensions

He wears a uniform and drives a car that has traditionally evoked fear and anger in Anaheim’s Arab American community. But the moment Omar Adham’s black and white cruiser pulls into a strip mall on Brookhurst Street, it’s clear that that sentiment is melting in Little Arabia.

“How you doing, Omar?” one Palestinian restaurant owner shouts. “Great to see you,” says another man as he shakes Adham’s hand between puffs on a cigarette.

As Adham sits at a table outside a Middle Eastern restaurant and blends seamlessly into a conversation with three elderly men, it is plain to see why some in this closely knit neighborhood have begun calling him “the mayor” of Little Arabia.

For some in the ethnic community, it’s difficult to picture an Anaheim cop wandering into a smoke shop, hookah cafe or bakery, sipping tea and munching baklava with business owners.

Muhammad Alam, owner of Tripoli Bakery, remembers a vastly different scene a few years ago, when police practically used the Middle Eastern commercial strip malls as their territory.

“They’d patrol undercover on an hourly basis,” Alam said. “The area was totally chaos. There was a lot of harassment and misunderstanding of our culture by police. It was a crazy time. The police had to do anything to protect the country, but some of the police officers went overboard.”

In the post-9/11 era, harassment complaints regularly came into Anaheim City Hall, and the Council on American Islamic Relations reported a record number of hate incidents and examples of civil rights discrimination in Southern California.

“It was a desperate situation for people in the Arab American community,” said Richard Chavez, an Anaheim councilman from 2002 to 2006. “Families were being targeted, business owners harassed, police officers were writing down license plate numbers and towing cars.”

The community, which is sometimes also referred to as Arab Town or the Gaza Strip, is a gritty stretch of congested city blocks in the town’s western quarter where travel agencies, pastry shops, beauty salons, real estate companies and adult bookstores do business in small shopping centers.

When John Welter took over as Anaheim’s police chief in February 2004, he said he immediately realized something needed to be done to ease the tension in the Arab American community.

“The biggest issue to me was that there was a perception that people were being targeted based on their religion and race,” Welter said. “Because of that, there was a lack of confidence in police.”

Welter held a series of meetings between the police and religious and business leaders in Little Arabia. A police investigation later uncovered misconduct within the department toward the Arab American community. One officer was reassigned and eventually resigned.

Welter’s next moves were symbolic and practical -- placing a Muslim on the chief’s advisory board and taking Adham off traffic duty and offering him a liaison position with the Arab American and Muslim communities.

“I wanted to get someone in there who I knew could reestablish trust quickly,” Welter said. “Someone who would be accepted by the community and who they could relate to. You get a lot more with honey than vinegar. If people like you, they will trust you with information and discuss their concerns without feeling they are an informant.”

Adham, 36, knew there would be challenges. Still, he gladly accepted Welter’s offer.

“People from the Middle East have a natural distrust of police,” said Adham, an Egyptian American who was born in the United States and speaks some Arabic. “They see police as an arm of the state.”

A few days into his assignment, Adham realized he had a lot of bridges to build.

“I got suspicious looks when I first started going into mosques,” he said. “It took some time before they began to realize I wasn’t there to arrest somebody.”

It took him several months, but Adham slowly began tearing down barriers with a schmooze campaign that would make a politician smile. Wherever he went, Adham brought a smile, a handshake and business cards. To a select few religious and community leaders, he even offered his cellphone number.

Since he isn’t tied to the police radio, Adham is able to spend more time getting to know his constituents, their families and their problems.

“If I can tell them their options and what the process is, it helps ease the tension,” Adham said. “This was all new to Arab Americans. They’ve never had interaction with a police officer at this kind of personal level.”

Adham also began networking with other mosques and police departments in Irvine, Garden Grove, Costa Mesa and Mission Viejo. The program is the first of its kind in Southern California.

Anaheim mosques have responded with some goodwill of their own, sponsoring lunches for residents, police and local community leaders.

“Having communication and being proactive will eliminate a lot of ill will,” said Mohammed Faquh, imam of the Islamic Institute of Orange County, on the other side of town from Little Arabia. “People develop radical ideas when their community is isolated.”

Faquh said a recent Easter weekend incident at his mosque illustrated how much has changed in Anaheim with Muslims and police. When a Christian Arab group handed out potentially inflammatory literature during the Muslims’ Friday prayer service, police were called to keep the peace.

“It was impressive,” Faquh said. “Their quick response was reassuring.”

Welter said he couldn’t quantify how well his department’s community relations strategy was working in Little Arabia. But the Palestinian restaurant owner offered a glimpse.

“They treat people here equally,” said Abdo Yusuf. “They don’t look at where you’re from or your color. They are more than fair. At the end, we all bleed the same way.”

david.mckibben@latimes.com