Gay and Lesbian Liaison Police Unit

Philadelphia’s LGBT Police Liaison Committee serves as an intermediary between the city’s LGBTQ community and police force, creating a safe place for LGBTQ people, many of whom are fearful of police, to report crimes. Besides being liaisons, the committee also does community outreach and education to both bring awareness to their services and create a more inclusive city.

After the 2016 elections, division, issues of bigotry and racism led to prejudice and resentment. Research studies at different universities around the country have shown that by opening dialogue with people across racial, gender, and class lines, tensions defuse. With conversations, people are more likely to have empathy toward people that are different from them.

Misinformation and misunderstanding about the law can lead youth to have accelerating confrontations with the police. Cleveland’s Patrick Henry School offers Juvenile Justice Jeopardy, a game that orients middle school kids to the facts about criminal justice. The game enables youth to internalize the information through an enjoyable format.

One-third to half of those killed by police are disabled, a recent report says. “Our problem isn’t with police,” one mental health advocate says, but both sides say officers need more training.

In response to high-profile shootings of people with mental illness, police departments around the country are turning to crisis intervention training.

In New Haven, the police department launched a program that pairs cops with clinicians. “We see ourselves as psychiatrists with guns and a badge.” They see children as victims too, who can experience trauma when witnessing violence or arrests. So far they’ve helped more than 20,000 families and children.

Researchers trained Tucson police officers in procedural justice, which involves treating people with dignity and respect by giving them a voice and showing neutrality, to help them de-escalate situations with fewer arrests and less violence while building trust in the community.

As New Hampshire schools debate the presence of police officers stationed in schools, one model they and other states can consider is found at Minnesota Intermediate School District 287. That district lowered in-school arrests dramatically by replacing school resource officers (SROs) with student safety coaches, trained in de-escalation tactics and crisis intervention. While some staff cite safety fears now, school officials say healthier relationships form between staff and students when help, not law enforcement, is the response to problems.

Black Lives Matters and LGBTQ protests, set to take place on the same day, merged into a single much larger march demanding civil rights. Racism in the LGBTQ community and homophobia in the Black community have previously led to divides, but people who are members of both the Black and LGBTQ communities have advocated inclusivity and broad representation. Both groups have created space to question how multiple oppressions work in society and where there is overlap between the two. Ultimately, members were able to find common ground advocating against police brutality and systemic discrimination.

An organization aimed at providing peer support for gay black men living with HIV that started in Atlanta, Georgia has now gained an international following. Because the program is not federally funded, data can be difficult to gather; however, "self-reported data from its members including medication type and adherence, CD4 cell count, and demographic information" shows a significant increase in members adhering to their medical regimen.