AWARE Fact Sheet:
Police Mug Files on People of Color

Fueled by anti-immigrant sentiment and gang hysteria, in cities all over California, including Garden Grove, Fountain Valley, Westminster, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Santa Ana, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Orange, Fullerton, Anaheim, Costa Mesa, and Los Alamitos, and across the U.S., police are believed to be stopping young Asians and other people of color and/or taking their photos, just because of their age, color, and hip-hop clothing.

• In the summer of 1992, eight Asian youths having a barbecue at Heisler Park in Laguna Beach are rounded up by police and individually and collectively photographed, just because of an earlier, unrelated incident involving some other Asians in the park.

• In January 1993, police raid the Kanshige family residence in Fountain Valley, looking for son Mark, having misidentified him as a attempted murder suspect from a photo dossier. Police handcuff parents and children, forcing them outdoors while ransacking the house for evidence they could not find. After spending six months in jail, Mark is found innocent by a jury.

• In July 1993, Garden Grove police illegally detain and photograph three Southeast Asian girls waiting by a pay phone for a call. The girls have on baggy pants. Two are honor students. Police accuse them of being gang members. Two of the girls tell their story on KUCI's Freedom of Voice show.

• Also in July 1993, California League of United Latin American Citizens calls on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission to investigate racism in Orange County, including the mug file issue.

• In August 1993, the Los Angeles Times publishes an opinion essay by Daniel C. Tsang opposing mug files, "Is Innocent Unless Proven Guilty a Lost Principle?" accompanied by a photograph of the three Southeast Asian students. Tsang gets hate mail and a phoned death threat. UCI police investigate.

• In September 1993, Tsang appears on KCRW radio's "Which Way L.A.?" hosted by Warren Olney to discuss, "Guilty by Appearance?"

• On September 26, 1993, AWARE is established at a meeting at Dynasty Restaurant in Westminster with ten founding members.

• In October 1993, JoAnn Kanshige, representing AWARE, testifies at preliminary U.S. Civil Rights Commission hearings.

• In November 1993, AWARE meets with Garden Grove Police Chief Stan Knee, who discloses that information from field interviews with suspected gang members is fed into the GREAT gang tracking computer used by all Orange County police departments and by other police agencies in the Southland. AWARE surveys Orange County police departments and find all responding departments to continue justifying field detentions and photography. Tsang gives a speech on "Moral Panic Over Asian Gangs" at the annual conference of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association in Los Angeles.

• Also in November 1993, in a case (People v. Rodriguez) involving a Latino, a state appellate court in California rules such detentions and photography to be unconstitutional. However, police refuse to obey the ruling, insisting that the practice catches criminals.

• In December 1993, with the help of the ACLU, a civil complaint is filed against the Garden Grove Police Department for its mugfile practices. CBS Evening News' 'Eye on America' segment profiles AWARE's grassroots efforts to stop such mug files. RicePaper at UCI publishes Tsang's bar association speech.

• In May 1994 with AWARE's help, the ACLU files a class action lawsuit against the Garden Grove Police Department, asserting civil rights violations for illegal detention and photography. Garden Grove Police Capt. Scott Jordan tells the Los Angeles Times that "many of them [honor students] are in a gang."

• In June 1994 AWARE holds its first Copwatch Forum attended by almost two hundred community members (and several police officers in plain clothes) in Little Saigon. At the session, AWARE distributes "Know Your Rights" cards. Both the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register cover the event.

• In the fall of 1994, AWARE's college student members form a chapter at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.

• Also in the fall of 1994, AWARE, with the help of Westminster Council Member Tony Lam, attempts unsuccessfully to meet with Westminster's Police Chief. The meeting is cancelled after an aide sees the AWARE buttons on members. AWARE members and supporters later demonstrate outside Orange County Court House in support of Tu Anh Tran, a college student shot in the back but charged with a friend's murder.

• In December 1994, the L.A. Times publishes an essay by Daniel C. Tsang, on Tu Anh Tran's case, " 'Asians Are Automatically Labeled Gang Members'." Tran is interviewed from jail on KUCI radio's Subversity program.

• In January, 1995, Tu Anh Tran is released after copping a plea and AWARE holds a press conference to celebrate his freedom. TV, radio and newspapers cover the event. Tran, Tsang and AWARE member Jeff Huang appear on Channel 18's "Tea Time" Chinese talk show.

• In March, 1995, Tsang's notes and photos are subpoenaed by the defense during the civil trial for damages sought by Loc Minh Truong, the victim of a vicious gaybashing incident in Laguna Beach. Tsang successfully fights off the subpoena.

• In March/April, 1995, a UCI student, Dan Hoang goes on trial for attempted murder with gang enhancement. AWARE believes he is wrongly accused of gang membership. Prosecutor Robin Park fails to have Tsang evicted from the courtroom after realizing his AWARE affiliation. Hoang is interviewed on Subversity from Orange County Jail. After his conviction, AWARE organizes a petition drive for leniency in sentencing. UCI's New University covers the case and runs Tsang's opinion essay, "Asian American Gangbanger Stereotype Sentences UCI Student to 15 Years in Prison". Asian Week publishes Tsang's reporting on the case. Tsang and Kanshige join Hoang's brother, John, on a panel at UC Riverside to discuss the case.

• In July 1995, the Orange County Register details harassment of Asian youth in South Orange County and quotes AWARE's JoAnn Kanshige.

• In Fall, 1995, AWARE takes a leading role in organizing a county-wide Asian Pacific American coalition which meets initially at United Way and then at Rancho Santiago College.

• In January 1996, AWARE's JoAnn Kanshige and her family are profiled in an Orange County Weekly story ("The Great Leap Backward", Jan. 26-Feb. 1, 1996) on Orange County District Attorney Mike Capizzi's attempt to digitalize photographs in the GREAT computer system.

• In February 1996, AWARE's Tsang participates in a panel discussion with Irvine and UCI police at University of California, Irvine. The New University, KUCI's Subversity, Chinese Daily News, China Press, Rafu Shimpo, Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, Korea Times, and KTTV Fox News (Channel 11) all report on growing concern about police harrassment of University of California, Irvine Asian American students. Six students file complaints with UCI Ombudsman. One is stopped on the 405 freeway, asked about gang affiliation and tattoos, and photographed by Irvine police. Documents released under a Public Records Act request suggest that Irvine Police consider AWARE's Know Your Rights card to be important enough to merit a paragraph in its policy on photographing youth. AWARE's Tsang goes to Irvine City Council to protest the singling out of AWARE. Several council members seek a review of the policy, according to the Los Angeles Times. The New University editorializes about the issue and prints letters about it from the UCI Ombudsman and Tsang. [See first and last letters.]

• In the same month, the Los Angeles Times profiles AWARE's Kanshige on the emergence of the new countywide Council for Asian Pacific Americans

• Also, AWARE participates in the press conference by the Kim Family over the shooting death by police of Hong Il Kim in Orange, and calls for releasing public records relating to police hot pursuit and use of deadly force.

• AWARE also attends the press conference at the ACLU in Los Angeles announcing the $85,000 settlement of the Garden Grove Police photo case. AWARE points out that Garden Grove Police field interview cards still use the "race" categories "Oriental," "Vietnamese" and "Samoan." Vietbao Kinhte runs a story on that. The ACLU press conference is broadcast later on KUCI's Subversity program.