Daytime Manager, Nighttime Cop: Peter Nguyen

By Jem Palo

One night about 10 years ago in suburban Virginia, a young police officer was in the last hour of his shift on patrol when his experienced eye noticed something suspicious. There was a car cruising along, carrying four men. Wearing sunglasses. At night. Thinking that strange, the officer followed the car and the car slowed down. But as soon as the suspicious car rolled to a stop, the four men piled out and dashed off. The officer chased the driver on foot and nabbed him, following up with an arrest for giving a false identity while being apprehended.

But there’s more to the story. Hours later in the precinct headquarters, the driver turned out to have other problems with the law: he was carrying more than a bogus ID. That was discovered when he attempted to rid himself of evidence of a bigger crime by trying to flush cocaine down the toilet. It turned out he was part of a New York-based gang up to no good on Virginia’s quiet streets. It was a lucky bust for the officer, who was on volunteer duty. “I was at the right place at the right time,” he reflected recently, downplaying the role his streetwise sense played in the bust.

This is all in a day’s—or night’s—work for police officers. But who would have thought this crime-fighter is FAPAC’s (Federal Asian Pacific American Coalition) very own Senior Vice President Mr. Peter Nguyen?

Talk about multi-tasking. Nguyen by day is manager of the Office of Finance and Management Organization at the Federal Aviation Administration. By night, for minimum 20 hours a month, he is also part of the auxiliary police force in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Nguyen did not plan on becoming a cop. After graduating from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronic Engineering, he moved to Virginia for his new job as an engineer. He volunteered as a paramedic for eight years, handling emergency duties along with his full-time job. In 1993, he came across a recruitment listing for the auxiliary police force. It sparked his interest, and soon he was training in the police academy and in the field, starting a 20-year—and counting—mission in law enforcement. He also made sure that he received his MIS degree.

Chasing perps is a far cry from what Peter Nguyen does during the day, managing an engineering and contractor group for the FAA’s National Air Space System. There’s stress in both jobs, but during the day, he says, it’s due mostly to government politics and personnel matters. At night, there’s the rush of adrenaline when dangerous situations and life threatening environments can arise in a matter of seconds. He says his leadership skills at the FAA have grown as he has learned to “treat your employee always with respect, honesty and integrity. Always support them so they will support you.” That last bit of advice also works on the streets, where cops have to depend on each other.

As the only Asian American police officer in the area in his early days on the job, he had to face challenges apart from his official duties. In a profession based on the effective use of authority, he learned to tread carefully wielding power as a Vietnamese immigrant. He remembers the reaction he sometimes got on the street: “They don’t see me as an American. This particular job they expect you to be a normal Caucasian cop. It was not as accepted. I mean why would the city hire an Asian cop? Why would they give me the gun the power, for someone who they would think is inferior?” Nguyen said.

But rather than letting that hinder him, Nguyen turns it to his advantage when dealing with the people he arrests. If someone complains about discrimination during an arrest, he simply tells them, “There’s no discrimination here. I’m in the minority too. It has nothing to do with race. You committed a crime.”

Of course, he says, dealing with ethnicity is a minor issue compared to the main job every cop faces: keeping other people safe. Now, with nearly two decades under his belt, Nguyen has seen his fair share of society’s darker side. And that’s what motivates him enough to keep going, to look out for questionable activity a civilian eye might not notice, and to put himself on the line.

“It just feels good to have one fewer criminal to worry about in the streets, and make it safer for my two little girls and for everyone,” he said.

Peter, his wife Teresa and the girls live in Northern Virginia.