Crime In And Against The LGBT Community Part Three: Improving The Relationship With SFPD

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This is the third part of a three part series (parts one and two here) funded with the help of Spot.us.

A POLICE FORCE THAT MATCHES ITS COMMUNITY

The SFPD's improved relationship with LGBTs is no accident. It's thanks largely to the work of organizations like the SF Police Officers Pride Alliance , a five-year-old organization that's grown to be the city's second largest police employee group.

The Pride Alliance advocates on behalf of LGBT officers, assists with outreach in the community, and provides input on sensitivity training.

"Are there still some issues?" asked Officer Len Broberg of the Pride Alliance. "Yes, I'm not going to whitewash that. Are there still people with prejudice? Yes, but anytime you're working with people, they're going to have their own prejudices. ... The organization as a whole has gotten much much better."

Ultimately, he said, "you get judged on your ability to do your job here."

"Today's police dept today is very sensitive and aware of the gay community," said Castro Community on Patrol's Greg Carey. "Today they are very responsive, there are a lot of gay police officers, and Chief Gascon is very focussed on resolving crimes by putting the focus on where the crimes are taking place."

That outreach yielded immediate benefits. In 2002, a report by Communities United Against Violence noted, "Over the past three years CUAV has documented a decling overall in law enforcement misconduct and abuse. ... This was in large part due to the creation of the Transgender Police Task Force. ... Because of these efforts we have seen a dramatic improvement in police sensitivity and responsiveness with a 33% decrease in cases of reported police abuse."

The Police Department's progress is perhaps most evident in its level of inclusion. "We have over 200 LGBT cops," said former Police Commission President Theresa Sparks, explaining that LGBT recruiting has been a top priority for years.

"They made a dramatic effort particularly under Heather Fong," she said. "They go to street events, the democratic clubs, the LGBT center, job fairs, they participate in Pride. ... Periodically they advertise in the gay press. The outreach is as much to the gay community if not more than other communities."

Among the advantages to maintaining a diverse police force: the ability to match victims with officers uniquely qualified to assist.

"If you're not comfortable with the officer that comes out, you can request a different officer," said Len. "And if they're available, they'll come out. ... You can't shop for an officer for every different situation, but you can say, 'no offense, I'm not comfortable talking to you, but is there a gay or lesbian offer that I could talk to?' ... The main purpose of the officer coming out is to get as much information as possible. And if the person is in an emotional state, you want to try to set them as much at ease as possible."

BUILDING LGBT LEADERSHIP

Integrating LGBTs into the Police Department may be the city's best weapon in the fight to pursue emotionally sensitive and under-reported hook-up crimes.

"Having transgender cops and having sensitivity training -- and the contact between transgender cops and other cops -- has impacted the relationship between the transgender community and the SFPD officers," said Sparks, who is herself transgender.

But a number of challenges remain.

"One issue has been a lack of success in recruiting gay men," said Sparks. "We seem to have been more successful in recruiting women than men. ... I don't know what it is. the salary is very good." Officers can expect to earn in the high sixty-thousands in the Academy, and over seventy thousand not long after graduating.

"We lost a huge number of gay men back during the AIDS crisis," she went on. "So the leadership of gay men in the department is very sparse. I think the highest ranking gay man is a Sergeant. We have one Lieutenant who's a transgender man. And a few lesbians who are Captains and Lieutenants."

Recruiting is particularly difficult among those old enough to remember when relations were at their worst.

"A lot of incidents in the past were still fresh in people's minds," said Pride Alliance's Len Broberg. "What people have to to is let go of the past. ... The Department has moved forward quite a bit."

TAKING CARE

In a sense, the current focus on hook-up violence is a fluke -- a confluence of several unrelated factors.

On its own, we might not've seen this particular impact of a bad economy, or of the ubiquity of anonymous sex via sites like Grindr and Craigslist, or of the historical challenges to LGBT representation in the SFPD, or of reluctance to report sensitive crimes.

Overcoming this "perfect storm" of obstacles will be difficult, but with hard work and community support, public safety organizations are confident that they can help protect people.

That community support is a crucial ingredient. Crime victims need to speak up, friends need to watch out for one another, and residents need to be attentive to their neighbors and neighborhoods.

"I would encourage the community to approach officers and let them know what you need," said Officer Len Broberg. "We have a community realtions group now, tasked with reaching out to communities within San Francisco to improve relationships.

Like the crime-statistic-crunching CompStat, the SFPD's new Community Relations Unit is an initiative of new police chief George Gascon. Since coming to San Francisco, he's emphasized community policing, smaller beats, and more hands-on involvement. The Community Relations Unit can be reached at sfpdcommunityrelations@sfgov.org.

You can also get involved with public safety by contacting Communities United Against Violence and Castro Community on Patrol. Both organizations work tirelessly to provide services for crime victims, volunteers, and neighborhood groups.

But of course, CCOP's Greg Carey pointed out, "the police can't be there 24 hours a day, and the Castro Patrol isn't on the streets 24 hours a day. It's really important that each individual take care of their own well-being, watch out for strangers who might be in need of help, and call police if they see something even a little suspicious."

Whether dealing with hook-up violence or any other crime, the key is to take an active role not only in your own safety, but in the safety of the entire neighborhood.

"As a community," Greg said, "we take care of each other."