Philadelphia officer uses his Cambodian heritage to build trust in Asian community
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. We're introducing you to a Philadelphia police officer who is drawing on his Cambodian heritage to build trust in the Asian community.
Officer Chanta Ung has been a Philadelphia police officer for 16 years.
He came to the United States when he was a baby after he and his parents fled Cambodia.
"My parents escaped the war, '79. They uh, became refugees," Officer Ung said.
His background as a Cambodian American refugee serves as a bridge connecting the department and the Asian community.
Officer Ung was originally assigned to the 14th district in Germantown, but several years ago, he asked to be transferred to the 3rd district in South Philadelphia because of its large Asian and immigrant population.
"I figured I'd come out here, maybe they could relate better with us, with the police," Officer Ung said.
Every day, he goes to 7th Street and checks in on the Asian American businesses there to make sure they're OK.
He speaks to Cambodians in their language, Khmer, and he follows the custom of referring to older women using a term of respect, "Ming."
"He help, yeah. When he come, he go to my store, Ming, OK? Ming, OK?" the owner of Soriya Bridal Chansothy Sok said.
Officer Ung says people in his district sometimes feel intimidated calling 911 about a problem because they're not fluent in English, but they comfortably share concerns and issues with him.
"Quality of life stuff, like the trash or drugs or you know, stuff like that I'm able to direct 'em, whereas, hey, you can contact this person and we have these type of resources to help them out," Officer Ung said.
Last week, the Pan Asain Association of Greater Philadelphia recognized his work with an outstanding community service award.
Sarun Chan, from the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia, is the one who nominated him.
"With a lot of the gun violence and community violence that's plaguing our city, having an individual that does great community policing, that is ingrained not only on the streets, as a police officer, but as a community member himself, really, really resonated with what we thought would be a great outstanding community service award," Chan said.
"I'm honored that they even think about nominating me," Officer Ung said.
Officer Ung says the best part of the job is the support he gets from the community.