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‘It’s enlightening’: San Diego police get extra training on non-biased policing and LGBTQ awareness

All sworn personnel are required to go through the training, which started last month

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Asking someone their preferred name and their preferred pronouns — it might seem like a small gesture from a police officer, but for the person they are talking with, it could be significant.

And possibly a step toward trust.

That’s just one of the tips offered to San Diego police this year — all 1,900 or so officers — as they go through extra training focused on non-biased policing and LGBTQ community awareness.

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Some of the instruction comes directly from members of the LGBTQ community, including Connor Maddocks, who created ProjectTrans at the San Diego LGBT Community Center.

“I highly believe in educating people about my community, especially the police,” Maddocks said, “because their interactions with the transgender community can be scary for transgender people.”

He said he wants police to know that “LGBT people are just regular people.”

Earlier this month, Maddocks stood before about two dozen officers in a police training room and shared his story of transition in his 50s.

“The big thing for us is our names and pronouns — that’s really the big thing,” Maddocks told the group.

He said doing so is reassuring and signals to the person that they are safe. Transgender people, he said, can be “petrified” during encounters with police for fear of how they might be treated.

“Joke, laugh — they’ll see you more as a human being than a machine that will eat them up,” Maddox to the group. “They are not hating you, they are hating the uniform, the concept of what police can do.”

State law mandates LGBTQ awareness training for new officers, but San Diego police are requiring it for all officers within the department, even those who might be nearing retirement. The department also added training to help officers identify and avoid bias in their policing tactics.

All law enforcement officers in California are required to go through mandatory training every two years. This new, extra day of training is mandatory for San Diego police. The idea came from Chief David Nisleit.

“This is something we decided to do on our own,” Nisleit said in an interview earlier this month. “It’s something we really think is going to be good for our cops.”

Voices from outside the department are imperative, the chief said.

“We don’t always understand how we are perceived. It’s critical that the officers hear from the community about what they think and how they would like to be served,” Nisleit said.

A couple dozen officers go through the daylong training each week. Classes started in February.

A group of officers in a recent training heard from Pastor Glenn McKinney from St. Stephen’s Cathedral Church of God in Christ, based in southeastern San Diego.

“It’s important for us to understand that we have to have a dialogue that’s uncomfortable,” he said.

McKinney said he sees the trainings as “a perfect opportunity” to address breakdowns in communication between police and the public.

“The message I want to get to them is to understand that I know that their job is tough, their job is hard, and it is a calling to really be an officer,” McKinney said. “I want them to understand that some in the community do see that. But there are people in the community whose only interaction has been negative.

“To whom much is given, much is required,” he continued.

Sgt. Elias Estrada, who leads some of the sessions, said part of the training is intended to be a “deep dive into bias and how it contributes to stereotypes and prejudging.”

The presentations spur discussion. During a session on LGBTQ awareness, one officer said he’d started using more inclusive language on the job. Instead of saying, “Hello, sir” or “Hello, ma’am,” he’d started saying, “Hello, my friend.”

“A lot of this is new to me — but it’s enlightening for me to understand,” another officer said during the group discussion. “But a lot of us here agree we are going to treat you the same” whether the person is a victim or a suspect.

Officer Kelvin Lujan, among the officers a recent session, embraced the training.

“It gives us empathy with the people in the community,” Lujan said. “It just opens up our minds.”

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