An article in The Village Voice is helping to bring light a report that unveils some alarming statistics about the police harassment of transgender people of color.

 

A new report out from the Anti-Violence Project shows that 40 percent of New York City anti-gay violence survivors polled said they had been mistreated by the police in 2012. Reports of police misconduct also spiked by a factor of 10–from eight incidents in 2011 to 78 in 2012–largely because of the AVP’s outreach to transgender and gender-nonconforming people of color, according to the organization.

 

“We receive reports and work with survivors all the time who tell us they were profiled–generally these are transgender women–by the NYPD as sex workers, stopped because of profiling, and searched,” Sharon Stapel, AVP’s executive director, tells the Voice. “If a condom is found on them, that condom is taken as evidence as intent to engage in prostitution. Many survivors of violence tell us that makes them hesitant to carry condoms.”

Read more at The Village Voice.

 

As with Stop and Frisk, the NYPD continually harass and put people of color in danger and make up various reasons to arrest citizens who are not breaking laws.

What can be done to protect these people of color from the police in New York and other cities?

 

Thoughts on the report?

How can members of the community ensure the safety of transgender and gender-nonconforming people of color?

Sound off below!!!!