Impact of Police discrimination on public welfare – Potestas and Siosan

News Articles:

Discrimination and Harassment by Law Enforcement Officers in the

LGBT Community (2015)
https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/lgbt-discrim-law-
enforcement/

Executive Summary

- Discrimination and harassment by law enforcement based on sexual orientation and

gender identity is an ongoing and pervasive problem in LGBT communities. Such
discrimination impedes effective policing in these communities by breaking down trust,
inhibiting communication, and preventing officers from effectively protecting and serving
the communities they police. While a patchwork of state, local and federal laws provides
some protection against certain forms of discrimination, there is no nationwide federal
statute that comprehensively and consistently prohibits discrimination based on actual or
perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.

- This report presents research demonstrating that LGBT individuals and communities
face profiling, discrimination, and harassment at the hands of law enforcement officers.
Data from a wide range of sources show that such harassment and discrimination are
greatest for LGBT people of color, transgender persons, and youth.

Key Findings
- The 9.5 million LGBT Americans are a part of every local and state community, and part
of the diverse communities that law enforcement seeks to engage to develop stronger
community support and trust.
- The United States has had a significant history of mistreatment of LGBT people by law
enforcement, including profiling, entrapment, discrimination, and harassment by officers;
victimization that often was ignored by law enforcement; and discrimination and even
blanket exclusions from being hired by law enforcement agencies. The Department of
Justice recently summarized this history of discrimination against LGBT people in its
brief to the United States Supreme Court in Windsor v. United States.
- Discrimination and harassment by law enforcement officers based on sexual orientation
and gender identity continues to be pervasive throughout the United States.
- For example, a 2014 report on a national survey of LGBT people and people living with
HIV found that 73% of respondents had face-to-face contact with the police in the past
five years. Of those respondents, 21% reported encountering hostile attitudes from
officers, 14% reported verbal assault by the police, 3%reported sexual harassment, and
 2% reported physical assault at the hands of law enforcement officers. Police abuse,
neglect, and misconduct were consistently reported at higher frequencies by
respondents of color and transgender and gender-nonconforming respondents.
- A 2013 report focused on anti-LGBT violence that occurred in the previous year found
that of the LGBT violence survivors surveyed who interacted with police, 48% reported
that they had experienced police misconduct, including unjustified arrest, use of
excessive force and entrapment. Additionally, police officers accounted for 6% of all
offenders reported by respondents; of offenders who were personally unknown to the
victim, police made up 23%.
- A 2012 report examining the interactions of law enforcement with Latina transgender
women in Los Angeles County found that two-thirds of the women reported that they had
been verbally harassed by law enforcement, 21% reported that they had been physically
assaulted by law enforcement, and 24% reported that they had been sexually assaulted
by law enforcement.
- A 2011 study that reported findings from the largest survey of transgender people to
date found that 22% of transgender respondents reported that they had been harassed
by law enforcement because of bias, and 6% reported having been physically assaulted
by an officer. Additionally, nearly half of respondents
- (46%) reported being uncomfortable seeking police assistance.
- Individual complaints of discrimination also document examples of police misconduct
against LGBT people. These reports include instances of verbal harassment, physical
abuse so severe that it required medical attention, and rape.
- Such discrimination, harassment, and abuse undermine effective policing by:
- Weakening community trust: A recent study of gay and bisexual identified men found
that 40% believed that contacting the police in response to a violent incident from an
intimate partner would be unhelpful or very unhelpful, and 59% believed that the police
would be less helpful to a gay or bisexual man than to a heterosexual woman in the
same situation.
- Reducing reporting of crimes by victims in the LGBT community: A 2013 report on hate
violence against the LGBTQ and HIV-affected communities found that only 56% of
survivors of hate violence reported such incidents to the police.
- Challenging law enforcement’s ability to effectively meet the needs of members of their
communities: A 2014 report on a national survey of 2,376 LGBT people and people
living with HIV found that over a third of crime victim’s complaints to the police were not
fully addressed.
- Key recommendations to prevent discrimination by law enforcement based on sexual
orientation and gender identity include:

- Adopting internal policies and practices in state and local police departments, including:
- Nondiscrimination policies and zero-tolerance harassment policies,
- Policies requiring officers to respect individuals’ gender identity and ensure safety in
arrest processing, searches, and placement in police custody, and explicitly prohibiting
searches conducted for the purpose of assigning gender based on anatomical features;
- LGBT sensitivity, diversity and specialization trainings,
- Outreach and liaisons to the LGBT community,
- Civilian complaint review boards with investigators and adjudicators specifically trained
to address the types of police profiling and abuse experienced by LGBTQ people,
including sexual harassment and assault and
- Prohibiting discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation or gender identity against
law enforcement personnel.
- Adopting and enforcing federal level protections, including:
- Nondiscrimination requirements in Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)
grants, which provide funding to more than 13,000 of the nation’s 18,000 law
enforcement agencies across the country, and other sources of government funding,
- Enforcement of new federal bias-based profiling prohibitions that are inclusive of sexual
orientation and gender identity and expansion of those provisions to more law
enforcement agencies through the passage of the End Racial Profiling Act with sexual
orientation and gender identity explicitly included,
- Increased data collection through anonymous surveys such as the Bureau of Justice
Statistics Police Contact Survey on police searches and seizures to analyze the scope of
bias-based profiling practices and identify target regions and agencies in need of
nondiscrimination training and policies.
- Enforcing Existing Legal Protections. Several existing laws protect LGBT people to some
extent, including constitutional provisions and state and local nondiscrimination laws.
- Adopting New Legal Protections. Laws explicitly prohibiting sexual orientation and
gender identity discrimination can be enacted at the federal, state and local levels.
Detention, misgendering, sexual violence: The case of Pride 20 (June
30, 2021)
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/30/21/pride-month-2021-lgbtq

MANILA (UPDATE) — "Bakit kami inaaresto?" Rey Valmores-Salinas asked cops as she and a
few other activists were being pulled out of their car and forced into a police mobile one morning
in June last year.

Just a couple minutes earlier, Salinas, a transgender woman, was on the streets with several
LGBTQ demonstrators and allies from different progressive groups to hold a protest for Pride
month.

It was June 26, 2020, and Metro Manila was just weeks fresh out of the toughest virus
quarantine classification.

But despite the risk of contracting the new coronavirus, compounded by fear of state violence,
the group insisted that Pride month is not merely a celebration, but a protest.

They followed protocols: 3 columns, 3 people per row, 1 meter apart from each other, as they
marched from Recto Avenue to Mendiola, where a short program was supposed to be held.

And then the police came.

"Habang inaayos ang sound system, dumating ang bulto ng kapulisan… in full riot gear. Sa
isang iglap ay napaligiran nila kami in police formation with their metal shields in front," said
protester Andrew Zarate in his affidavit, a copy of which was obtained by ABS-CBN News.

(While we were fixing the sound system, the police arrived, clad in full riot gear. In a snap, they
were around us, with metal shields in front.)

Zarate pleaded to police to allow them to hold a program for just 10 minutes. The police
declined.
"Humingi na lamang ako ng ilang minuto para magkaroon ng organisadong dispersal ang aming
grupo. Sa yugtong ito, habang ako ay pabalik sa aming hanay para ianunsiyo na kami ay
maayos na na magdi-disperse, bigla akong dinamba at hinila ng isang pulis paloob sa kanilang
shield formation," Zarate recounted.

(We just asked for 5 minutes to disperse. While I was returning to my group, I was suddenly
grabbed by a police officer into their shield formation.)

A violent dispersal ensued.

"As we walked to the intersection, we kept asking what crime we committed, and the officers
never gave an answer. They just told us to follow them and that we should go to the police
station. We saw our friends loaded into a packed police mobile," Carla Nicoyco, another
protester, said.

Twenty protesters, now collectively known as Pride 20, were brought to a Manila Police District
(MPD) station for "violations" that have yet to be clear to them.

INJUSTICE

The detained members of Pride 20 were released on June 30, 5 days after what they claimed
was their illegal arrest.
Six months later, on December 29, the Manila prosecutor would junk the complaints lodged by
MPD against the Pride 20.

"Nakita naman 'yung matinding injustice sa nangyari. In fact 'yung resolution ng fiscal would
complement 'yung complaint namin sa Ombusman kasi pinakita talaga na very violent and
brutal 'yung dispersal. 'Yung nag-initiate talaga nung gulo, sinabi sa resolution ng fiscal ng
Manila, 'yung sa side ng mga pulis," Lopez, the legal counsel, said.

Exactly a year since her arrest, Salinas and her group Bahaghari co-organized another Pride
protest, this time in Quezon City.
Asked what led her to risk another arrest, she gave the same answer: Pride is always a protest.
"Kami po humuhugot kami ng lakas, ng inspirasyon sa iba pang LGBT na nagde-decide na
hindi na puwede ang ganito lang, lalaban tayo."

The complaint of Pride 20 against MPD officers that arrested and detained them has been
pending before the Office of the Ombudsman since July last year.
Philippines: degrading treatment, physical and verbal abuse and the
arrest of homosexual persons (March 19th, 2003)
https://www.omct.org/en/resources/urgent-interventions/philippines-degrading-
treatment-physical-and-verbal-abuse-and-the-arrest-of-homosexual-persons

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the International Gay and
Lesbian Human Rights Commission, of a raid by the police on a cinema frequented by
homosexuals in Cubao, Quezon City in the Philippines, which resulted in degrading
treatment, physical and verbal abuse and the arrest of several persons.

According to the information received, on February 19th, 2003, members of the Central
Police District of the Philippine National Police raided the Alta Theater, a cinema
frequented by homosexual persons. The raid was reportedly set off by a reporter of
ABS-CBN, JV Villar. According to the information received, Mr. Villar went to the police
station and said that there were indecent acts going on at the Alta Theater. Mr. Villar,
along with another colleague, reportedly accompanied the plain-clothes policemen on
the raid and filmed the events for the news. It is reported that the police subjected the
patrons to physical and verbal abuse and extortion attempts. The police allegedly hit the
men with their hands and hard objects, with one victim having reportedly been hit with a
gun. Reports include that 63 men were apprehended for verification, five men were
arrested, and that they were all brought to nearby Camp Karingal.

According to the information received, the tapes from the raid were shown on three
separate ABS-CBN news programs. The moviegoers reportedly had their right to
privacy violated when they were filmed while being brought out of the cinema, with no
opportunity to hide their faces from the cameras. Some of the men were allegedly
forced into interviews by the television crews. While the segment was being aired on the
news program Magandang Umaga Bayan, one of the hosts reportedly commented on
the unfair treatment of the men. His colleague, Erwin Tulfo, however allegedly
commented that the “indecent” gay men deserved that kind of treatment from the police.

According to the information received, the men that were arrested and brought to Camp
Karingal were each told they needed to pay P1,000 to be released from prison. They
were reportedly able to raise a total of P3,500, which they gave the policeman, and
were subsequently released.