Investigates the nature of the relationship of Asians to the American police by focusing on Vietnamese refugees and Chinese immigrants living in California’s Orange and Los Angeles counties. Both groups come from a legal environment that differs in many ways from that of American society, but unlike the Vietnamese, the Chinese have a considerable presence among the police officers and elected officials in Southern California. The study involved in-depth interviews with Chinese and Vietnamese community leaders as well as questionnaire surveys of both communities. Among the key findings were that the Vietnamese respondents consistently rated all areas regarding their interactions with police as more serious than did the Chinese; the Chinese reported a greater proportion of crimes to the police than did the Vietnamese; the Vietnamese were more afraid of crime and more likely to remain at home at night the Chinese; and both groups agreed strongly that the police must understand their cultural background to gain community cooperation for crime prevention. Police officers should strive to create positive relations with refugee and immigrant communities in order to help make ethnic communities less susceptible to crimes such as extortion, burglary, robbery, and other gang-related activities.
