Lethbridge police trainers update transgender policy

A complaint from a provincial organization representing transgender Albertans has led to the creation of a new training policy for Lethbridge police officers.

The Lethbridge Police Service received a letter of complaint on April 21, 2016, regarding the personal social media posts of an officer. The officer’s comments were related to the attendance of a transgender woman who was a guest at the Alberta legislature as part of a ceremony to recognize 100 years of women’s suffrage in the province.

The Lethbridge chief of police ordered an internal investigation, which determined the officer’s comments were made on his personal social media page and that he did not identify himself as a police officer or claim to represent the views of the police service.

The officer retired on June 2 and the service lost jurisdiction in the professional standards investigation.

However, the service did conduct a review of its policies and procedures about transgender individuals.

Lethbridge police Chief Rob Davis said Thursday there were two parts to the complaint, in relation to both officer conduct and policies and procedures.

“We did have a policy in place but it needed to be updated — it was a little stale,” said Davis.

The service reached out to the LGBTQ community in Lethbridge and to other police services, including the Vancouver Police Department, in updating its policies.

The new training policy created in Lethbridge includes information about gender identity terminology, the proper use of pronouns and mandatory awareness training.

“One of the big things that we learned out of that is just common sense — having a conversation as to how the person would like to be addressed, rather than relying on what’s on their driver’s licence or making assumptions,” said Davis.