Violence Against Chinese Seniors Compels Public Safety Action

Recent victims of attacks on seniors in the Chinese community. Photo credits: Sasanna Yee and Sing Tao Daily.

After a recent series of brutal attacks on Chinese seniors in the Visitacion Valley and Chinatown neighborhoods, concerned residents and community leaders formed a group called Communities As One to recommend actions City Hall must take to keep San Francisco’s Chinese-American population safe.

Crime against the Chinese immigrant residents of Visitacion Valley has been a problem for many years and City Hall hasn’t made correcting it a priority, according to community advocate Marlene Tran. The beating of an 88-year-old grandmother in a Visitacion Valley park earlier this year — which left her in a coma with a fractured skull and ribs — became a rallying cry for action.

Not long after that incident, a 74-year-old woman was abducted while walking near McLaren Park. She was dragged into a home, repeatedly raped and dragged back to the sidewalk where she was left unconscious.

Then on a recent afternoon, two seniors were violently attacked and robbed on a Chinatown street. One man was thrown to the ground and another punched in the face.

Tran reports eight violent crimes have targeted seniors in the Chinese community so far this year. The Communities As One group crafted five specific recommendations to bring safety back to Visitacion Valley:

1. Expand Safety Escort Program
Residents of the Chinese community in Visitacion Valley request expanding the existing Community Ambassador Program (CAP) from patrolling half of the neighborhood to cover the entire neighborhood in order to eliminate the high risk spots in public safety. Residents would like to see more outreach done about the availability of the “Safety Escort” service in this program, so that the elderly can make an appointment with the ambassadors 15 minutes in advance to be safely escorted to a bus stop or return home from a bus station. Residents also hope to have a familiar, friendly and powerful leader to continuously improve the CAP program.

2. Subsidized Security Cameras
Property owners in the neighborhood should be subsidized for an extensive installation of security cameras to improve the security of the community and assist with solving crimes. We hope the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) can help with the resources.

3. Subsidized Personal Safety Devices
The elderly in Visitacion Valley should be subsidized for a wearable personal safety device. If Huang Po Po wore this device at the time of her attack, she would have been able to press a button and urgently notify her family or relevant departments for her rescue, and avoid her prolonged torture and pain. There are existing personal medical devices available from the market that can be worn like a watch or pendant, and work in conjunction with smartphones. In an emergency, an elder wearing one of these personal devices can simply long press the device and automatically send messages to a few preset phone numbers to inform family members, medical service providers, and even police stations. Some of these devices only require a one-time purchase of less than one hundred dollars, and no monthly fee is needed, while some others have the options to maintain a monthly fee to access live operators.

4. Develop Leland Avenue Commercial Corridor
City Hall should incentivize and prioritize the development of the commercial corridor on Leland Avenue to attract shops and nonprofits that serve local families. This would include mental health relief movement classes, tutoring, music and art classes, sports clubs, dentists and medical clinics. Expanded support is also needed for existing non-profit organizations on after school programs, preschools, family services, youth centers, boys and girls clubs, elderly and community centers, free tax services and food pantries. This is needed to meet the demands of a neighborhood that has a higher than City average population of families, children, seniors and Asian immigrants or descendants.

5. Expand Police Foot Patrols and Office Hours
The current police officer Office Hours established at the three Visitacion Valley Community Centers should be made permanent, and the foot patrol should be expanded to cover more merchant visits. Residents feel the Office Hours staffed by multilingual officers have increased their understanding on how to get help. They also feel reporting crime in their own languages at a location they are familiar with is less of a taboo.

Communities As One (社区合一) is represented by Sasanna Yee, Marlene Tran, Hanchang So, Gen Xing Situ, Josephine Zhao and Rex Tabora.

Contact: Sasanna Yee / 余嘉雯
Email: Info@CommunitiesAsOne.org
415-886-7822

Residents of the Chinese community discuss ways to safeguard against a recent series of brutal attacks on Chinese seniors in San Francisco. Photo credits: Sasanna Yee and Sing Tao Daily.

訪谷區華人社區治安保障建議

敬愛的市長、市參事、社區領袖、以及維護治安的各界團體和僑領，

感謝您們對黃婆婆事件的高度關注。經過四個多月的努力，我們蒐集了多項的社區建議，歸納出五條能夠代表訪谷區華人對該區公共安全的訴求 —「訪谷區華人社區治安保障建議」。在此懇請貴團體能夠背書支持，讓政府能幫忙在該區實施這些治安措施，保障個人安全和社區安全，避免同樣的痛苦再出現在訪谷區任何一個家庭身上。

2019年1月8日, 88歲的黃婆婆在訪谷區家門前的公園晨運時被暴打至面目全非,暴徒隨後更到她對面的房屋入屋搶劫。

過往四個月，在訪谷區圓桌會（Visitacion Valley Roundtable) 的主导下，訪谷區的華人社區主要領頭人與各社區代表一起，召開了八次的會議，不但為華人社區總結了具有代表性的五點建議，即以下的「訪谷區華人社區治安保障建議」（以下简称 “建議”），也列出了跨社區的總體訴求。在此，我們僅僅列出華人社區的訴求。對於跨社區的訴求，請容後与其他社区一起另紙陳述。

另外，我們也展開过了充分的社區調查，通过探访、会议和微信，徵詢了訪谷區華人居民的意見，驗證了建議的貼切性，

在此，我們把这些建議，綜合呈現如下：

1. 訪谷區華裔居民（以下簡稱 “居民”）希望擴大現有的“社區大使項目” （Community Ambassador Program or CAP），從巡邏半個訪谷區的覆蓋面，擴展到能巡邏整個訪谷區，以杜絕公共安全的高危點。該區居民還希望多介紹這個項目裡的 “安全護送”服務（Safety Escort），讓老人家可以提前15分鐘電話預約這些大使，陪同他們安全走去車站或者由車站回家。如何使用“安全護送”服務的資訊，要張貼在每個老人中心，社區中心，和巴士站。居民們也希望有一個熟悉、親善和有力的領導者，把這個社區大使項目不斷完善。

2. 居民希望政府能資助訪谷區的業主廣泛安裝保安錄像鏡頭，提高社區安全度，也協助警察快速破案。我們希望政府的OEWD（經濟及勞動力發展辦公室）能夠協助安排資源。

3. 居民希望政府能資助訪谷區的老人家每人配戴一個『緊急求助(SOS)佩戴儀』。如果黃婆婆當時佩戴著這種儀器，只需長按一個鍵，就可緊急撥電話通知家人或相關部門求救，而不需要長時間承受巨大的痛楚。(見下注3)

4.  居民希望政府能夠優先開發Leland大道的商業走廊，以各种优惠吸引服務本地家庭的商鋪和非謀利機構，如精神健康舒緩運動班、補習班、音樂班、畫畫班、體育俱樂部、牙醫、醫務所等等，並擴大支持訪谷區現有的非謀利課後班、托兒所、青少年中心、家庭援助中心、男女兒童俱樂部、老人和社區中心、免費保稅服務、英文班、食物庫等等，以滿足這個區的多家庭，多兒童，多老人，多亞裔，多移民的 “亚裔移民家庭” 結構的需求。(見下注4)

5. 居民们希望永久保持在访谷区现有的三个社区中心的警察办公时间，并继续扩大巡逻商铺和为居民报警提供便利。自从这个社区中心的警察办公时间建立以来，居民们可以用中文来这个熟悉的环境里求助，对求助的步骤有了了解，报警也不再是那么的忌讳。

以上五點，是我們經過全面數據採集和印證的 「訪谷區華人社區治安保障建議」。多謝您們攜手一起，幫助每個區的每位街坊得以出入平安，回復訪谷區的安寧。

Communities As One / 社区合一
代表成員：余嘉雯, 陳美玲老师, 蘇漢昌, 司徒銀杏, 招霞, Rex Tabora 共同敬上 
info@CommunitiesAsOne.org
1-415-886-7822

               ———— 下注 ————

下注3: 『緊急求助(SOS)佩戴儀』

據了解，這種醫療設備是市面上現有出售的小型電子儀器，可以像手錶或項鍊吊墜那樣佩戴的，並可以配合智能手機，在緊急情況下只需要長按一下，即可自動撥號到三個預設的電話號碼，通知家人、醫療機構甚至警察局。

下注4: 访谷区“亚裔移民家庭”的結構

根據三藩市2010-2014年的社區社會和經濟結構報告http://default.sfplanning.org/publications_reports/SF_NGBD_SocioEconomic_Profiles/2010-2014_ACS_Profile_Neighborhoods_v3AH.pdf，以下是訪谷區和三藩市的人口構造：

訪谷區的人口結構 ：78%的居户是家庭，47%的居户有老人，39%的居户有小孩，21%的人口是17歲或以下的兒童，亞裔佔58%，外國出生的移民佔53%。

三藩市總體人口的結構：46%的居户是家庭，33%的居户有老人，19%的居户有孩子，14%的人口是17歲以下的兒童，亞裔佔34%，外國出生的移民佔36%。