San Jose's First Woman Vietnamese Police Officer Promoted To Sergeant

SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- San Jose Police Department's Samantha Huynh is breaking new ground as the city's first female Vietnamese officer promoted to the rank of sergeant.

It's a milestone for the local Vietnamese community.

Since the end of the Vietnam war, San Jose's Vietnamese population has become the largest of any single city in America.

Huynh came to the U.S. in 1985, studied hard, got a degree in botany then joined the force in 2002.

Female Vietnamese officers were, and still are, rare.

"When I shared with my parents that I want to become a police officer, it wasn't 'Don't do, don't do, don't do. It was more like, 'What is that?'" Huynh said.

She helped to launch the city's first Vietnamese Citizen's police academy.

In her 13 years, she's been a detective, an internal affairs investigator, tactical negotiator and battled human trafficking.

She also became the department's Asian community liaison and the region's highest ranking female Vietnamese officer.

Deputy Chief Phan Ngo hopes the younger generation looks to her as a role model.

"We want to encourage more Vietnamese Americans to take a look at law enforcement as a career path," Ngo said.

For Huynh, the attention and hoopla is a little embarrassing, and humbling.

"One day, I will just blend in," she said. "Where it's just the way of things."

Huynh is the first to achieve this rank as a female Vietnamese officer in Northern California. But the very first in California was Lt. Jenny Ha with the L.A. County Sheriff's Department.