CHICAGO – A coalition of people from community organizations who've been working with Chicago police officials to draft a new order covering how transgenders are treated by police went to the Chicago Commission on Human Relations' Advisory Council on LGBT Issues Jan. 19 to get support for the effort.
“Even good cops aren't adequately educated on how to deal with transgender individuals,”.... read the entire article at www.nowingaychicago.com.
This article reminds me of something I heard on the police scanner a few weeks ago.
A transgendered woman was chased down the street by four or five offenders in one of Chicago's south side neighborhoods. I believe the incident took place near a White Castle hamburger restaurant on 79th and Stony Island.
The responding officer said, "Why were they chasing him? Because he's ugly?"
The officer's tone seem to suggest the victim deserved to be hunted and possibly assaulted.
I think the CPD could use a of of training regarding this issue. I also think they could use some refresher course on dealing with the mentally ill and handicapped as well. Name calling and leaking arrests out to the papers just for a laugh is so unprofessional. there is this little saying that should be posted in their squads..."If you want respect, you need to give it". I know it's tough out there but sometimes they exasperate the problem with their own actions and comments.
ReplyDeleteTowanda, in many cases, the police have no idea how to handle mentally ill people. I have seen them walk into a bad situation and make it worse by trying to use force.
ReplyDeleteHere's an example: I told you before that I used to volunteer at a Chicago mental health facility.
Well, one day, a male patient became extremely agitated. The man is a paranoid Schizophrenic and began ranting about one of the other patients "doing him wrong".
Which was a lie, because the patient he was talking about, never had any contact with him. Because of the agitated patient's size, the staff members were afraid of him and called police. The cops entered the scene and began yelling at the man and pointing guns at him - which quickly made things worse.
I stepped in and asked the patient one question... "Would you like to go to the vending machine and get a soda?" That's all I said to him.
Townada, that one question completely diffused the situation. The patient calmed down, I bought him a soda, and no one got hurt.
I'm not saying what I did works in every case, but it worked that time!
I have also seen police negotiations fall apart, because the offender is mentally ill and the negotiator has no idea how to reason with someone who is mentally unstable.
A few years ago, a suicidal man, who was also a paranoid Schizophrenic, barricaded himself and several small children inside a home. Police spent hours trying to talk the mentally unstable man into coming out peacefully.
Finally, someone suggested they put the suspect's mother on the bullhorn. The moment he heard his mother's voice, the suspect opened the door and followed his mother's instructions.