Boston cops must defer to transgender crooks
Criminals just got more rights in the city of Boston – at least, those who identify as transgender.
According to new regulations, officers of the Boston Police Department must use a transgender suspect's preferred first name, find out whether the person likes to be called “he” or “she,” allow him to choose whether male or female officers perform his frisking, and give any transgender inmate a private ride to and from court.
New BPD rules say police must use the name anyone who is arrested prefers, “even if the individual has not received legal recognition of the adopted name.”
Policemen must also “respectfully ask the individual” when they are “uncertain about which pronouns are appropriate.”
All friskings will be performed by two members of the sex the transsexual chooses, if at all possible.
Officer Javier Pagan, the Boston Police Department’s liaison to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, said their policies are similar to rules in effect in Washington, D.C., and Chicago.
“Financial exposure, that’s the only thing that moves them,” “Brenda” Wernikoff told the Boston Herald. Wernikoff is a transgender man who won $20,000 from the department five months ago after officers questioned his use of the women's restroom, making him strip. “Money seems to be the correct vehicle.” Wernikoff added, “Common sense, logic, and reason don’t seem to work.”
