ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The St. Petersburg Police Department is launching a new transgender sensitivity training program.
The training comes two months after a Tampa transgender woman’s murder — and law enforcement’s handling of it — captured national attention.
After 25-year-old India Clarke’s body was found in a Tampa park July 21, law enforcement identified her by the name and gender she was born with even though she had identified as female for years. Backlash from across the country followed, surfacing a discussion about how law enforcement handle the identities of transgender people.
Officers can’t rely on anatomy or what is on a person’s driver’s license to identify them and generally they should use pronouns based on a person’s outward appearance — or avoid them if unsure.
