Vietnamese officer breaks down the barriers

TRUNG Luu was five years old when he endured a horrific voyage from Vietnam with his parents in which their overloaded boat ran out of drinking water.

One elderly woman died and her body remained on board, and the boat was raided by pirates seven times. That was 1979, and his family was among Australia's first Vietnamese ''boat people''.

Thirty years later, Trung Luu, 35, a leading senior constable, is again making history as the first member of Victoria Police to become a Vietnamese-community liaison officer.

Even the now-disbanded Asian squad did not have a Vietnamese member.

Its role was strictly investigatory, not community relations-focused.

Leading Senior Constable Luu, who studied civil engineering before joining the police force, said he was proud of the appointment.

''I like helping people and I want to assist the Vietnamese community where I can.''

Drugs, gangs and gambling have all been problems within the community, he said.

''People in the community are suspicious of authority figures. They need to be given information on the role of the police here, rather than them thinking of the police as like in the past. The more they know, the more they will be able to accept and respond to the Australian way of life.''

With the refugee experience being one shared by many Vietnamese, he believes his personal story helps him understand his community: ''It gives you a different perspective.''

The boat that carried the Luu family was one of three taking refugees from Vietnam to Malaysia.

When one of the vessels broke down, its stranded passengers crowded on to the other boats.

The boat he was on carried 200 refugees and was just two days out of Vietnam when it first encountered pirates.

Leading Senior Constable Luu recalls clinging to his father and hearing passengers screaming.

The refugees were ordered to ''get to the other side of the boat'' and the pirates searched their belongings.

They had run out of drinking water when they passed another refugee boat that had run out of oil.

They swapped oil for water. Later, they had to swim to shore after their boat was deliberately sunk near Malaysia.

Leading Senior Constable Luu spent six months behind barbed wire in a refugee camp before he and his parents were approved to come to Australia.

Now based at Yarra police station in Richmond, he said Vietnamese was the most commonly spoken language after English in the area.

He observed a cultural wariness of the police that made it difficult to work effectively with the community.

A Vietnamese-speaking officer could help break down that suspicion, he said.

He was backed by Yarra District Inspector Dean McWhirter for the new role of multicultural liaison officer, which begins on October 1 on a pilot basis, two days a week for six months.