This weekend proved to be another violent weekend for the transgendered community as the Metropolitan Police Department struggles to assess its reaction to bias crimes. Police officials suspect a transgender women found unconscious at 11th and Fairmont Streets, NW early Saturday morning and later died at Howard University Hospital may have been a victim of homicide. An autopsy is pending before a final determination of death and the woman’s identity. According to the Washington Blade, the department’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit alerted transgender activists to the situation and to help in the investigation.

A short time later, in a separate incident that started on a Metro bus, three transgender women were accosted by a suspect with a gun on the 4000 block of Minnesota Avenue, SE. The suspected was arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon – bias related.

Unfortunately, the transgender community continues to see the D.C. police department as more of a hindrance than help in solving these and still unresolved crimes. Activists assert that many in the police department view transgender women in certain areas as prostitutes and treat them as such when a bias crime is committed against them — an issue that materialized in a police incident a few weeks ago. The department is trying to improve relations with the community, through the Gay and Lesbian Liason Unit, as they “communicate and keep them informed of what’s going on,” said D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier last week. Communication and relation aside, the rise in bias crimes continue unabated, despite an “emerging potential pattern” being recognized by the police.

Now that the season is changing, time will tell whether the police is making an significant pushes to stem the problem or providing only lip service.