Some immigrants wrestling with the city's serious crime problem face a question foreign to many residents born and raised here: Am I in greater danger from criminals, or from what could happen if I talk to the police?

Police have several times this year reported that crime is down in Oakland. But those statistics are based on crime that either police discover on their own or is reported by victims and concerned residents. When immigrants become the victims of crime, however, fears that they will be mistrusted, ignored, or worse, deported by the police, prompt many to secretly accept their abuse.

In Chinatown, for example, activists trying to rally their neighborhoods against crime estimate that only 10 to 20 percent of crime in the area gets reported to police.

Even as promising solutions are developing, these communities have been both terrorized and galvanized by high-profile crimes against immigrants, such as the deadly beating of a 59-year-old Chinese man in downtown and the shootings of ice cream truck and taco truck vendors in the Fruitvale district.

These horrific crimes have spurred immigrant-rich neighborhoods to question how they can best protect themselves, whether they are being targeted and how their reluctant relationships with police may need to change.

"They're worried about being deported," police Capt. Paul Figueroa said. "I tell them at every (neighborhood) meeting that I'm not bound to do that."

However, under Alameda County's Secure Communities program launched in April, jailed detainees' fingerprints are sent to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency no matter what they're arrested for, and noncitizen immigrants with criminal records can later be deported.

An ill-timed deportation under the program can send waves through a community whose trust is difficult for police to obtain, said Susan Bowyer of Immigrant Survivors Legal Aid.

"Frankly, I think that they need to do more outreach; that they don't report victims and witnesses (to ICE), but they have so much on their plate," Bowyer said.

Karina Najera, who works with at-risk youths through the Spanish Speaking Citizens' Foundation, is also concerned.

"They tell us they're not going to call ICE," Najera said. "In reality, when people do get stopped, when they get sent to Santa Rita (Jail), they do call ICE. They do get deported, even if they get stopped on an unpaid ticket."

Deportation is less of a fear among immigrants from Asia, as the culture of their immigration operates differently, according to Sun-Kwong Sze, a community group organizer for Councilmember Pat Kernighan (Grand Lake-Chinatown).

"Many of them immigrate for family reunions," Sze said. "Being undocumented is less of a fear."

However, like many Latino immigrants, illegal status may prevent Asian immigrants from obtaining drivers licenses, bank accounts or credit cards, forcing them to walk around carrying cash while shopping and doing business.

The combination is known to street criminals and makes immigrants vulnerable targets for mugging. In the Latino community, Bowyer said she has heard immigrants referred to as "ATMs" and muggings referred to as "amigo checks."

Language barrier

For many immigrants, the language barrier alone creates enough discouragement to prevent them from calling police.

"It's the number one concern for Asian immigrants, that they will call the police and no one will understand them," Sze said. "Even though when you call 911, they can have a language line to help you translate, sometimes it takes time. When people don't understand how things work, they will become frustrated. They might hang up."

City Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente (Fruitvale) said city government has failed to reach such frustrated communities.

"The number of bilingual officers is the root of the problem," he said. "There's a very small percentage of officers who are bilingual."

Figueroa said that the Police Department recognizes the issue of language barriers and has had success reaching out to churches such as St. Anthony's, which offers services in Spanish, Vietnamese and English.

The language barrier also makes it difficult to educate immigrants on the proper channels for coming forward.

"It has more to do with them not knowing their rights, not knowing the way the system works," Najera said.

De La Fuente agreed. "You want these people involved, and there's no way to participate and clean up a neighborhood without people knowing how to participate and report crimes."

Culture clash

Language, however, is just one of numerous cultural comfort zones immigrants can find themselves leaving behind, and the jarring experience of being transplanted doesn't stop at the words people speak.

"I think definitely whatever experience (immigrants) bring from the countries they're from "... if they bring these experiences to the United States, it takes time for us to build a relationship," Figueroa said. "South American countries, Mexico, the police are seen as corrupt."

The problem isn't unique to Mexico: Many Asian immigrants come from cultures that also left them fearful of police, or misunderstanding of their role.

"For many people, especially non-English speakers, we found the culture may not be trusting police from their background," Chan said. "The police are so authoritative where they come from, they don't know it might be different here."

Building a relationship becomes increasingly difficult as more strain is placed on Oakland's shrinking police force. Data released in June showed Oakland's response time for top priority 911 calls is nearly three times as long as the average of California's other nine largest police departments.

Oakland police already undergo cultural sensitivity training, Sze said. "But in my own personal opinion, there should be more. That's what my personal experience with police says, and that's what I hear from the community."

Beyond that, in Chinatown crime is sometimes perceived by its victims as an experience to suffer through, either because its victim has earned his or her misfortune or because of a superstition that it staves off even worse experiences.

"If you get mugged and you lose 40 or 50 dollars, for many Chinese people they think that's not so much money if they can avoid bigger trouble," said Ming Ho, a volunteer who helps crime victims deal with police. "It's a superstition more for older people, but it's very common in our culture."

Efforts to improve

In 2007, the federal government began issuing three-year visas, called U visas, to immigrant victims of violent crimes who cooperate with police.

"The whole purpose of the U visa is to bring immigrants out of the shadow," said Jessica Farb of the International Institute of the Bay Area, which aids immigrants in attaining the visas. "It's a positive result that comes out of something really, really terrible."

Many of Farb's clients are women who have been the victims of domestic abuse, as well as others who have been victims of assaults and street robberies.

Local law enforcement agencies have been receptive to the program, Farb said, as an approach to improving the relationship between law enforcement and immigrant communities.

The institute has a six-month wait list of individuals looking to begin the process of applying for the visa, and Bay Area residents have been awarded about 10 percent of the U visas granted annually, Farb said.

Attacks in Chinatown became notorious among neighbors, especially when seniors became targeted about a year ago, according to Carl Chan, chairman of the Asian Advisory Committee on Crime. The attacks prompted the launching of a Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council, which holds monthly meetings in Cantonese to address the complexities and trends of crime in local neighborhoods. The meetings help work through the language and cultural barriers between residents and police, Chan and other residents said.

"Many people are now realizing reporting crime is very important," Chan said.

In the wake of an April 16 fatal beating, Chan and the victim's widow called a news conference and spread word to the community, expecting a rally of 100 or so neighbors to come out and show their support -- but more than 500 arrived.

"People are beginning to realize it's not just about catching the guy," Chan said. "When police know it's a high-crime area, they will step up the patrol. People don't feel like they have a voice if they don't see the effects of calling police right away, but they do have a voice. They have to be part of the community."

To address the language barrier, volunteers from Chinatown's NCPC have been offering to act as liaisons between victims of crime and the police. Among them is Ming Ho.

Ho, 66, has lived in Oakland since arriving from Hong Kong when he was 23. He said he's often shared his neighbors' frustration with police, calling them and getting no response. He eventually learned his way around City Hall through the Citizens' Academy, which was held in Cantonese, and has been helping his neighbors ever since.

Further, a video camera program local merchants launched about a year ago in cooperation with the Chinatown NCPC has been successful, Chan said.

"Most business owners install cameras to focus not only inside, but also outside on the streets now," Chan said. "Many suspects have been caught and put in jail because we put in cameras."

Despite the obstacles, the situation continues to improve, Chan, Sze and Ho all said.

"We'll be OK as long as we're working together bridging the gap," Chan said, "especially in times of tough economy."