Pacific wardens bulk up Asian crime-watch patrols out West

Tuan Jie, or Project Unity, will see new Asian volunteers teamed with Pacific Island counterparts for street patrols. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Multilingual but often slightly built Asian Safety Patrol officers will be paired with more experienced and bulkier Pacific wardens in a new police project aimed at reducing crime and victimisation among ethnic communities in West Auckland.

The Asian safety patrol, started in 2009, is made up of volunteers, mainly people who want to join the police.

But although these volunteer officers bring to the police diversity in languages and thought processes, their physical size means they will often be at a disadvantage during any chance encounters with Maori or Pacific Island offenders.

To get the "best of both worlds", a six-month pilot project called Tuan Jie, or Project Unity, will see new Asian volunteers teamed with Pacific Island counterparts for street patrols.

"This is a new crime-prevention model to enable our community to prevent and reduce crime and victimisation through working in partnership," said Constable Wells Albert, a police ethnic relations officer.

The project, which is also supported by the Auckland Council, New Lynn Business Association and LynnMall Town Centre, will be launched by the new Police Commissioner, Peter Marshall, at the New Lynn Community Centre on Saturday.

During the trial, the patrols will be out in "crime hotspots" around the New Lynn area where there are high levels of theft and robbery.

Mr Albert said the Asian-Pacific patrols would play an important role in increasing police visibility and providing assurance and would also play a bridging role in an area where about half of the shops and businesses were either owned or operated by Asians.

He said many of the people who committed these "petty crimes" were Maori or Pacific Islanders.

A recent recruitment campaign for the project attracted more than 100 volunteers, including those from the Chinese, Indian, Middle Eastern, African and Korean communities.

Malaysian immigrant Richard Ruang, 36, said volunteering for the patrol was a way he could "give back" to the community.

"After 18 years here, this is home, and this is one way I think I will be able to positively contribute towards making it a safer place," said Mr Ruang, a Pizza Hut delivery driver who speaks English, Malay, Spanish, Mandarin and several Chinese dialects.

Another volunteer officer, Joanna Liu, 20, whose ambition is to join the police, said being paired with a Pacific warden made her feel "safer".

Veteran warden Bill Noue, 63, who has been on the Pacific patrol for nearly 20 years, said he was looking forward to imparting his skills to the Asian volunteers.

"Because of how multicultural our city has become, the Asian patrol has become a must as the Pacific Warden programme alone is not enough," said Mr Noue, a migrant from Niue.

"But through this project, we hope that we can pass on to our Asian partners what we have learned."