As the new immigrant population in New York City gradually increases, the Police Department is paying more attention to the changing communities. The NYPD Bureau of Community Affairs is currently reorganizing the New Immigrant/Special Outreach Unit in order to reach out to different ethnic communities and establish relationships with activists and organizations. According to Community Affairs Officer Ga-wah Liu, the unit will seek to strengthen community ties, provide services, and reduce the distance between police and immigrants to help protect them from becoming victims of crime.

The New Immigrant /Special Outreach Unit currently has nine members, which include Liu, one detective, one community assistant, five police officers, and an intern, Linda Sun. They seek to strengthen community ties with Asian, Hispanic, African-American and Arabic groups.

Liu pointed out that the unit analyzes census reports in order to understand the uniqueness of each community and to serve the needs of each ethnic group. According to Liu, the police conducted a survey about the needs of different communities. They found that information about health care was needed in Chinatown, so the NYPD held a health care fair in Chinatown last year. They also discovered that Hispanic communities have a negative impression of the police force. To address this, the police force formed a soccer team, which plays with members of Hispanic community once in a while. They hope to use the game to reduce the tension between the two groups.

The New Immigrant/Special Outreach Unit is actively organizing. Sun has already translated many materials into Chinese. They include information on the city's immigrant populations, Mayor Bloomberg's Executive Order 41 – which forbids police officers from asking the immigration status of victims and witnesses of crime – and detailed information about hate crimes and ways to reach the police.