The commander of Dorchester’s C-11 police district told a group of concerned residents Monday that members of the neighborhood’s Vietnamese-American community were not the specific targets of a pair of violent robberies from earlier this year.

The robberies took place in and just outside the Fields Corner MBTA station over the winter. Captain Richard Sexton said that both Vietnamese-American victims were “beaten somewhat severely” in the assaults.

“We came to the conclusion that the Vietnamese people were not being targeted specifically,” Sexton said at a meeting in the Vietnamese American Community Center on Charles Street. Police “know the persons responsible for the acts,” but have not yet “met the burden of the court” to bring charges, Sexton told the group of around thirty mostly Vietnamese residents. In the meantime, police are taking other actions to crack down on the suspects and to “keep an eye on these kids,” according to Sexton.

“We will use any means allowable under the law to bring them into court one way or another,” Sexton said.

Vietnamese American Initiative for Development Executive Director Nam Pham told the Reporter after the meeting that he was conflicted about what the police had presented, saying that though there are statistics that suggest Vietnamese-Americans were not targeted, he has heard “so many stories in the community” that suggest otherwise.

Through an interpreter, Brendon Nguyen of Faulkner St. described how a house patronized by a group of troublemakers has caused the quality of life for the whole street to decrease.

Nguyen said the group has stolen his bicycle and slashed the tires on his car, among other indiscretions.

City Councillor Maureen Feeney, who represents this part of Dorchester, said the complaints aired at the meeting were the exact same complaints from other neighborhood residents that stem from problems of absentee landlords and troubled properties.

MBTA Police Lieutenant Commander William Fleming, commander of the T police for the southern portion of the Red Line, said several of the individuals had been arrested for other crimes and the group is aware that investigators know who they are. Fleming described the group’s tactics as “apple picking” - targeting anyone who looks vulnerable carrying electronic devices that can be sold downtown.

Sexton said there have been no reported incidents involving the group of between six and ten young males in three months. Monday’s meeting was the second meeting with the Vietnamese community on the two assault cases. Pham said he expects to have officials from the Police Department meet with residents quarterly for updates.

MBTA Police Lieutenant Mark Gillespie said police have been in contact with the District Attorney’s office about the list of seven suspects and a juvenile DA has been assigned to the cases. Gillespie said the District Attorney has full intention to proceed with the case when they have enough evidence.
“[The investigation is] nowhere near over. It’s a very active investigation,” Gillespie said.

Fleming told residents the homicide at the Savin Hill MBTA station earlier this month, in which a Vietnamese man is charged with the murder of a white man, was “not ethnically related.”

Data made available by the Boston Police showed that reported crime in the C-11 area for the first part of the year is down 15 percent compared to the same time span last year. Crime in the B-3 area is down 21 percent. Aggravated assault in the C-11 area as a whole, with 156 cases reported this year, fell from 221 reported cases in 2010.

“On the whole, the neighborhood is very safe,” Fleming said.