Police and Trans People: A Fraught Relationship
A transgender woman calls 911. She鈥檚 terrified. Her boyfriend has just beaten her up and he鈥檚 still menacing her in their apartment.
Please hurry.
The police arrive, slap handcuffs on the boyfriend and are about to take him off to jail when he says, wait a minute, she鈥檚 a he.
Smirking, the police officers check the victim鈥檚 ID. When the name and gender marker on the document do not match the image of the battered woman standing before them, pleading for their protection, the officers release the boyfriend and leave.
A few minutes later, the boyfriend beats her up again for calling the police.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not an uncommon story,鈥� says Josie Paul, director of the TransLife Center of Chicago House, a social services agency for LGBT people. 鈥淭here are individuals that I know, similar situations, calling the police for domestic violence, and not only was the violent man not taken in, but sometimes the trans woman was taken in instead. Conventional wisdom among transgender women is that the last thing you want to do is call the police.鈥�
The relationship between the police and transgender men and women, particularly trans people of color, has long been filled with hostility and mistrust. Trans people complain bitterly about the police being disrespectful, using the wrong gender pronouns and profiling them as sex workers for simply walking down the street 鈥� 鈥渨alking while trans.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e just tired of the police f------ with us,鈥� says a young trans woman in Ohio.
The police seem to be trying to change 鈥� at least on paper. In recent years, police departments across the country, including departments in Chicago, Atlanta and New York, have written new policies and protocols aimed at doing a better job of serving and protecting transgender Americans.
In Chicago, after more than two years of pushing and lobbying by transgender advocates, the police department adopted a general order that mandates the respectful treatment of transgender detainees in 2012, according to the Windy City Times, which covers Chicago鈥檚 LGBT communities.
鈥淲e worked very closely with the transgender community to write the general order,鈥� the supervisor of the department鈥檚 civil rights/hate crimes unit, Sgt. Lori Cooper, tells the Intelligence Report.
But just because a department may have 鈥渁 good policy on paper about documents, pronouns, and searches,鈥� cautions Harper Jean Tobin, director of policy for the National Center for Transgender Equality, 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 mean they have a culture of accountability and are tackling all forms of bias.鈥�
Still, Tobin points to the Miami Beach Police Department as a department implementing 鈥減ositive practices鈥� that she hopes will be more than a 鈥減ublic-relations band-aid.鈥�
The policy, the department鈥檚 standard operating procedure (SOP) for 鈥渢ransgender interactions,鈥� applies to all members of the department and covers everything from 鈥淎ddressing Individuals鈥� to 鈥淪top and Frisk鈥� to 鈥淭ransgender Juveniles.鈥�
It explains who transgender men and women are and includes definitions for 鈥済ender expression,鈥� 鈥渂irth sex鈥� and 鈥済ender identity.鈥�
It says that all employees 鈥渟hall address a transgender individual using the person鈥檚 clearly stated gender identity.鈥�
A stop, frisk or search, the policy says, 鈥渟hall not be performed for the sole purpose of determining an individual鈥檚 anatomical gender鈥� 鈥� a common complaint among transgender women in particular.
The policy also has something to say indirectly about walking while trans. It says officers should not 鈥渢reat a transgender individual or person who appears to be transgender as the basis of suspicion and/or evidence of a crime.鈥�
