WESTMINSTER : Police Catalyst in Family Reunion Plan

Christopher Duong hasn’t seen his family since he fled to the United States from Vietnam almost 15 years ago.

But thanks in part to his colleagues in the Westminster Police Officers Assn., Duong, now 30, will soon be reunited with his parents and two sisters.

Duong works for the Police Department as a community service officer, and the association has raised $7,500 to help bring Duong’s family to Orange County.

“It would be impossible without the help from my comrades in the department,” said Duong, who came to this country by boat.

“It was an idea among a bunch of us; it seemed like the right thing to do,” said Lt. Andrew Hall, who drafted the letter to the association’s 200 members seeking donations for Duong.

“He’s served the community through the Police Department, never asked anything from us; now it’s time to give something back to him,” Hall said. “It feels really good to have helped, I’m really pleased.”

The money will go toward plane fare and setting up Duong’s parents and two sisters, ages 22 and 20, in an apartment.

They are expected to arrive March 18, and although he is excited, Duong said he is also nervous about seeing his parents and sisters after all these years.

“When I see my father, I don’t know if I should shake his hand or hug him, or what to say for the first moment,” he said. “It’s been 15 years--my sisters were little girls when I left; now they’re grown.”

Duong has worked as a bilingual community service officer for the last year after serving nine years in the Marine Corps. He works mostly with Vietnamese refugees, helping them adjust to their new life by teaching them about Neighborhood Watch programs, personal safety and the court process.

“Emotionally it was very rough for me at first when I came here,” said Duong, who lived with an uncle in Woodland Hills after he immigrated to the United States. “Back then there were no social adjustment programs. I was on my own.”

Duong said he hopes to become a police officer next year. But his first priority is making sure his family arrives safely and can adjust to their new home.

“I haven’t seen my family since March 16, 1979,” he said. “That’s a long time.”