A leading member of the District’s transgender community told the D.C. Council today that he has little faith in the Metropolitan Police Department and Chief Cathy Lanier when crimes against transgender persons are committed.
Jason Terry, speaking on behalf of the D.C. Trans Coalition, said that MPD has “abdicated its responsibility to keep trans people in the District of Columbia safe,” particularly in the wake of several recent incidents of violence against transgender victims. The hearing, led by Councilmember Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), who chairs the Council’s Judiciary Committee, comes on the heels of news that the U.S. Justice Department is investigating MPD for violating the rights of and being biased against transgender people, WAMU reported this morning. Among the allegations is a low closure rate of crimes against the transgender community.
Additionally, ahead of his appearance before the Council, Terry told the Associated Press that when it came to investigating anti-transgender crimes, it is “amateur hour” at MPD.
Terry expanded on that criticism, telling Mendelson and other council members that transgender people feel Lanier has placed the burden of safety back upon them, a charge that stems from a January interview the chief gave to WTOP in which she said, “We’d like to see all those folks who are in that high-risk environment find ways to increase their safety, and help us out.” Terry said today that view was rather dismissive toward his community.
“Rather than attempt to solve crimes, or to advocate for safer conditions for trans people, Chief Lanier simply says it is on us not to get killed,” Terry said.
Though Lanier, testifying later, defended MPD’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit, which is tasked with monitoring crimes against transgender people, Terry did mention during his testimony several recent incidents that have given members of D.C.’s transgender community plenty of reason to worry that law enforcement is doing enough.
Most recent is the murder of Deoni Jones, who was killed February 2 near a Metrobus stop in Northeast D.C. While police arrested a suspect in Jones’ death about a week later, Terry pointed out this is the first instance of the murder of a transgender person in D.C. to be solved in a decade. There are seven cold cases involving a transgender victim on MPD’s books since 2000, none of which are listed as being bias-related, Terry said.
There are also the matters of two incidents in which MPD officers allegedly assaulted transgender people. Last August, Officer Kenneth Furr was arrested while off-duty after he allegedly fired five shots at a car and injured three occupants, two of whom were transgender women. In December 2010, a transgender woman who was arrested for assaulting another off-duty patrolman, Raphael Radon, said that the altercation was instigated by Radon after he made several abusive comments.
Terry asked that to alleviate tensions between MPD and the transgender community, it would be useful for Lanier to meet with the D.C. Trans Coalition, preferable in the presence of a third, neutral party. The coalition asked as much in a letter it sent to Mayor Vince Gray. Mendelson, for his part, wondered if that would be “a little harsh.”
But Terry also recommended several other steps MPD could take to address its standing in the transgender community, specifically better training for new and veteran officers alike, renewed investigations of open cases involving transgender victims, disciplinary measures against officers who violate policies with respect to transgender people, and the creation of a new Biased Policing Task Force that gives the transgender community a seat at the table.
Read Terry’s full testimony:
Dctc Mpd Oversight Testimony 02-29-12
