CITY POLICE 'DRUG RAID' UPSETS VIETNAMESE FAMILY

Racial Discrimination Alleged As Police Find No Signs Of Pot Operation

When 72-year-old Vietnamese immigrant Trong Nien Dao opened his front door
Wednesday afternoon, he says he was greeted by two Vancouver police
officers pointing guns at his head.

He was taken out of the house and handcuffed on the front lawn. He says
police rushed into the house, guns drawn, and took four members of his
family into custody, h andcuffing his 34-year-old son Sinh and 30-year-old
son-in-law Quan Le.

While the family stood on the lawn, the police conducted a quick search of
the house. The search warrant was for "theft of electricity," but they were
searching for signs of a marijuana-growing operation.

They found none, and left.

Dao's daughter Anna is furious. She thinks the police raided the family
home in the 5600-block of Inverness on scant evidence, because the family
is Vietnamese.

"I believe this is discrimination," said the 34-year-old court interpreter.
"We are Vietnamese people, we live in east Vancouver and we pay a low
[electricity] bill. It doesn't mean we do drugs."

As an interpreter, Anna Dao has accompanied the police on growing-operation
raids in the past. She says having an armed police squad raid the house was
heavy handed, and wonders why they treated her father so roughly, given his
age.

"He opened the door and that's it," she said. "They said 'Out! Out!' and
handcuffed him. He still has the bruises. They hurt him."

"He was really shocked and traumatized," said Quan Le. "He cried. It was
really hard for him. Usually he sleeps very easily, but last night he
couldn't sleep the whole night. It was humiliating."

Police spokesman Detective Scott Driemel said it was a standard
growing-operation raid.

"We were with a warrant for the theft of electricity," he said. "Whenever
we do attend on these types of warrants, there's a presumption that there
is in fact a grow operation within.

"Because of the dangers that are involved with armed people [that are]
oftentimes located inside, we utilize our emergency response team. The
first order of business is to secure the premise, and secure all people
found within. That involves people being taken into custody. Once that
threat is removed, the house is searched. In this case, there was no grow
operation."

Driemel wouldn't say what led police to suspect the house, but another
daughter, Quyen, said one of the police officers told her they had received
a tip there was a growing operation there.

The family was paying only $17 per month in electricity. With gas added,
the bill was about $100 every two months, and was paid by Trong Nien Dao.

After the police raid, a B.C. Hydro worker came by and discovered that
someone had fiddled with the electricity meter to make electricity cheaper.
The Daos said they did nothing to the meter, and assumed nothing was wrong
when they rented the house in September 2000.

"My dad is 72 years old," said Anna Dao. "How can he know anything about
this? He just receives the bill and he pays, that's it. He never missed any
payments, and we've been living in this country for over eight years."

She thinks the police should apologize to her family.

"They can't just burst in and point a gun at someone and say 'Oh, sorry,
we're wrong,' and then go," she said. "They can't do that."

Asked if the Daos would sue, she was ambivalent.

"We don't need money," she said. "But they really have to take
responsibility for this, because I don't want them to do this to other
Vietnamese families."

Driemel said that if the Daos have a complaint, they can go to the office
of the Vancouver police complaint commissioner or the internal
investigation section.

Ironically, the police raid came the day before the Dao family was to move
to another house. The residence on Inverness, which they rented for $1,300
a month, has been sold.

Police actions in growing-operation raids have stirred up controversy
before. In 1999, police in Abbotsford raided a house and shot and killed a
dog at a birthday party in front of 14 children. Vancouver police have also
been accused of destroying private property during drug raids.