Voices: Tech tools helped mobilize community after alleged hate crime

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — Peter Pham was furious.

An alleged hate crime had taken place here in this quiet Los Angeles beachside community, just six blocks from his home, and he wanted to do something to help the victims, quick.

With just his smartphone and three apps, he was able to raise over $30,000 in a matter of days for a reward to find a firebomber.

For all the complaints about kids addicted to their cellphones, people texting at movie theaters and just too much technology, what Pham was able to do shows the best of tech, how it is able to enrich our lives.

It also has brought us way closer together, as Pham's story will illustrate.

Let's back up for a moment:

Manhattan Beach is an upscale community of 35,000 people, where the median price of a home is nearly $2 million. With a population that's 82% white and less than 1% African-American, according to the Chamber of Commerce, the city traditionally votes Democratic, recently elected a black mayor and is a place many black sports pros call home.

Beyond the odd home robbery, big crime rarely happens here.

Then last week, a fire erupted Thursday at 2:15 a.m, at the home of an African-American family, the Clintons. (Police say it's a hate crime, and the FBI is investigating.)

Nixle, a service Pham subscribes to, pushed the police report in an e-mail, mentioning a local fire. "The cause of the fire is suspicious in nature, but motive has yet to be determined," said the report.

Pham knows his way around tech. He's the co-founder of Science, a tech incubator that helps tech start-ups get off the ground, and has a healthy 21,000 followers on Twitter.

So when he wanted to go beyond the police report, he clicked open the Nextdoor community website. You may have never heard of it, but many in Manhattan Beach have. It counts 800 who have signed up — which is about 5% of the town's population.

Nextdoor calls itself the "private social network for your neighborhood" and serves as a replacement for posters on signposts.

Nextdoor recommends that people use it for all things local: from getting the word out about break-ins to asking for help find a lost dog to seeking recommendations on great babysitters or house painters.

Through some digging on Nextdoor, Pham got in touch with Malissia Clinton and found out how the fire started. A lit tire doused with gasoline was thrown on the doorstep as the family and their three children were sleeping.

"You couldn't get that in a police alert," Pham says.

Through Nextdoor and Twitter, Pham let people know the details of the story, and residents leaped into action, using Nextdoor to contact local media and get the word out — which they hoped would help the police find the perpetrator.

On Twitter, Pham said he wanted to raise money for a reward to catch whoever did it — and he was turned on to Fundly, a San Francisco crowdfunder that charges a 4.9% flat fee for using its services.

Within 15 minutes, he had a Fundly site set up, from his Samsung Galaxy Note 3 smartphone; In two days, he topped $27,000. It's now up to $31K.

Via Nextdoor and Twitter, Pham and others organized a candlelight vigil in town to show the Clintons support — and attracted 500 people.

The Clintons are currently staying at a hotel, with costs covered by insurance. Pham is hoping to raise at least $35,000, with most being used as a "dollar amount that will compel people to rat out their friend. We're going to catch this guy."

Meanwhile, of his adventures using tech to get a community to quickly respond and help a neighbor, Pham says, "It's amazing how far we've come. I couldn't have done this five years ago. The power of the mobile device and tech is really something."

Manhattan Beach resident Graham covers tech for USA TODAY