California’s Racial Identity Profiling Advisory Board Recommends LGBT Awareness Training For Law Enforcement

January 6, 2022 (Santa Rosa, CA) The 2022 report from California’s Racial Identity Profiling Advisory Board (RIPA) published this month recommends LGBT awareness training for all law enforcement officers. The recommendations stated:

“Require multiple hours of LGBT-specific training for all personnel and include LGBT advocacy organizations in training development and facilitation.”

The data collected from 18 large law enforcement agencies includes 2.9 million stops by law enforcement shows that LGBT people are treated differently.

“Stopped individuals whom officers perceived to be LGBT had a higher proportion of their stops involving the officers taking actions towards them (48.7%) than individuals officers did not perceive to be LGBT (38.9%).”

“Stopped individuals whom officers perceived to be LGBT had a higher rate of being searched (29.7%), detained on the curb or in a patrol car (28.9%), handcuffed (29%), and removed from a vehicle by order (6.2%) than individuals officers did not perceive to be LGBT (24.5% searched, 23.4% detained, 19.3% handcuffed, and 7.6% removed from vehicle by order).”

The RIPA Board also made multiple recommendations related to how law enforcement encounters and interacts with transgender and gender non-binary citizens. These recommendations included policy changes and additional training for officers.

California has required LGBT awareness training for peace officers and dispatchers since January of 2019 (California Penal Code section 13519.41), but many agencies have not yet complied with this requirement.  The law requires training on five required topics that are included in the RIPA recommendations.

Out To Protect developed an LGBT Awareness For Law Enforcement course in 2016.  We also have a training for trainers course for agencies seeking to provide this training in-house.  The training for trainers course provides course outlines, lesson plans, learning activities, a textbook, and everything needed to present LGBT awareness training.

Out To Protect president Greg Miraglia said, “A important role for our organization, as an LGBT advocacy organization, is to facilitate development and delivery of LGBT awareness training for law enforcement agencies in the United States.  We hope agencies will take advantage of our resources, many of which are provided free of charge.”

The basic LGBT For Law Enforcement Course and LGBT Awareness For Law Enforcement Training For Trainers course is certified by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training for California law enforcement agencies through out partnership with the Napa Valley Criminal Justice Training Center.  Courses are available in fully online and in-person formats.