Michael Wong

Michael Wong is the Coordinator of Chinatown’s Crime Watch program. An active member of the community and resident of over thirty years Wong, along with other members of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, created the program as an attempt to reduce the area’s crime rate. “Crime watch has been going since last May,” said Wong. “We have been able to get a lot of funding and hope to continue the program until the budget runs out.”

During the Chinese New Year, Wong said there was a lot of criminal activity in the area. So the community then decided to create a program where residents can become active participants in community safety.

Every night between five and ten, roughly a dozen residents don bright blue jackets and radios, and walk the streets.
The residents are unarmed and if they spot any illegal activity, they alert police. “During the summer it was really nice to do crime watch because most volunteers rode bikes,” said Wong.

Over 70 people are volunteers in the Crime Watch program. Residents meet the first Wednesday of every month, at the Doubletree Hotel for a Crime Watch Safety meeting to discuss developments.

At the start of 2006, Wong will take on new responsibilities as the chair of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association a position that he hopes will enable him to further serve the Chinatown community.