Mr Nguyen Dinh Luy has more than 11 years of fighting crime in Saigon – driving around its streets to make sure the area is safe from robbers and thieves.
He is the Head of the Residential Protection Group, Quarter 2, Hiep Binh Phuoc Ward, Thu Duc District, HCMC. Mr Luy served as a military serviceman when he was young, he learned all sorts of self-defense through martial arts of the Shaolin Temple. However, when he got married, he and his wife settled and raised a family as fish sellers.
Having to pick fish from the Thu Duc Market to sell, he saw a series of injustices along the streets while traveling. He had interfered with multiple street quarrels trying to protect different people from being harmed or taken advantage of.
There was a time when Mr. Luy saw an old woman riding a motor taxi from the Ga intersection (District 12) to Thu Duc wholesale market with only 5 thousand dong in freight, but then the driver asked her to pay 60 thousand dong which is a hefty amount compared to what it actually cost. The old woman reacted and the driver scolded and threatened to hit her and Mr Luy had the urgency to meddle and in time stopped the hand of the offender.
Mr. Luy was administratively sanctioned for causing public disorder.
“Every fight with people makes me get invited to the ward office. Luckily, I protected the righteousness, protected the person being bullied, so I was only warned and sanctioned, ” Mr. Luy recalled.
In the early 2000s, the Thu Duc area was a den of frequent pickpocket and robbery cases. It used to have injection needles scattered all throughout its corners and street cleaners can even fill up a large garbage bag of just purely used needles.
Many people passing through this area were robbed of necklaces, bags, mobile phones and other valuable items. Some people fell from their bikes causing broken legs and arms, heavy bruising and scratches.
“I want to help them reclaim justice”, Mr. Luy asserted.
In 2007, his family had a more stable financial standing and so Mr Luy decided to work as a street knight specializing in robbery and theft. Every day, after finishing housework, he would drive around the streets to “sniff” the offenders, when he saw them taking action, he kept them and handed them over to the police for further actions.
With all of his contributions in solving street crimes and somehow decrease the crime rate he was then invited to be the Head of the Ward 2 Residential Protection Group in 2009.
Every day at 5 AM, Mr. Luy would wear casual clothes and a mask to drive around the crossroads to track criminals’ activities. He would hand people his number and ask them to report any suspicious activities and even crimes around the area using up to 2 liters of gasoline a day to patrol the whole streets of Saigon. Some days he would pretend to be a motorbike taxi driver at the wholesale market, Binh Phuoc flyover monitoring any criminal activities. Due to the nature of his job, he experienced almost losing his own life during a high speed chase with the criminals.
He got kicked while driving and fell over – rolling and tucking his head while avoiding upcoming vehicles that might run him over. He had to stay at home and rest for 10 days to heal some of his wounds which he personally tended. However, out of passion, he immediately went out on the 11th day and went on doing what he loves the most – keeping the peace and order in his area.
Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Hai, Hiep Binh Phuoc Ward Police Chief said, Mr. Luy has been the Head of the Ward’s Residential Protection Group since 2009 until now.
Mr. Luy has made a great contribution to the arrest of criminals with the police force. “Over the years, he has continuously received certificates of merit for tracking and catching offenders, making the ward more peaceful,” Hai said. Over the past 11 years, Mr. Luy has arrested more than 1,000 criminals for trafficking, using drugs, illegal buying and selling cars, faking college degrees, robbery. Particularly from the beginning of the year until now, he has caught 11 drug trafficking cases, with 50 offenders.
