Skip to main content

DOJ Hosts LGBT Advocates, Police Chiefs to Discuss Reforms

Image

Earlier this week, NCTE joined LGBT advocates from around the country in a meeting with local police leaders, researchers, and federal officials to discuss how to improve trust and safety for LGBT people in interactions with law enforcement. The day-long meeting addressed many topics relating to the numerous problems between police and LGBT community members and efforts to address them through policy change, training, transparency and accountability reforms, community engagement, diverse recruitment, and civilian oversight.

The meeting was hosted by the U.S. Department of Justice, which in recent years has included reforms to protect trans people from discriminatory policing in settlement agreements with police departments, supported the development of resources for law enforcement agencies on working with trans and other communities, and made clear that federal law enforcement grants prohibit discrimination against trans people.

In the 2011 National Transgender Discrimination Survey, 47 percent of transgender adults said they would be somewhat or very uncomfortable seeking police assistance. More than 20 percent of transgender people with any past contact with police reported harassment—a number that jumped to 38 percent for Black transgender people. Two percent reported being sexually assaulted by police, with four times the rate (8 percent) for Latino/a respondents.

These statistics confirm what many know through personal experience: police disproportionately mistreat people of color, including trans people of color. That is just one of the reasons it is so important that transgender people, regardless of race and ethnicity, must work together with other communities to change the policies and attitudes of police urgently. Police departments must be required to treat everyone fairly and equally. The rates of harassment and violence against trans and other communities are shocking and must be eliminated.

NCTE continues to urge the U.S. Department of Justice to provide local police with model policies on interactions with LGBT people, the misuse of condoms as evidence of crimes, and police sexual misconduct, and to urge Congress to pass the End Racial Profiling Act, which would prohibit profiling against LGBT people as well. NCTE also works with local advocates and at times directly with local officials to develop better policies. Please reach out to us if you would like help working with your police department to change their policies and attitudes.

For more information on LGBT people, policing, and the criminal justice system, see the report Unjust: How the Broken Criminal Justice System Fails LGBT People by the Movement Advancement Project, the Center for American Progress, the Advancement Project, Forward Together, and JustLeadershipUSA.

If you or someone you know has experienced mistreatment by law enforcement, check out our Know Your Rights resources or seek legal help.

Join Our Mailing List

Sign Up