This paper reports on a project aimed at understanding LGBTQ experiences and perceptions of law enforcement, in order to identify more effective community policing strategies and improve police service delivery and legitimacy in marginalized communities.
This report describes a research project that had five objectives: to develop and implement a survey of LGBTQ people’s attitudes toward and experiences with law enforcement through nationally representative probability samples; to select respondents from the larger survey to undergo follow-up qualitative interviews; to disseminate the work through academic publications and other reports; to make the resulting data set available to the general public; and to develop a training module for interacting with and serving the LGBTQ community that can be used by law enforcement agencies across the United States. The report lays out the guiding research questions that drove the project as well as the scope of the project. Findings from the studies are predicted to help law enforcement agencies enhance their relationship to the LGBTQ community through better communications and service delivery. Research results indicate the following recommended practices for police conduct: discontinue policies that require or incentivize officers to engage in aggressive tactics, such as quotas for citations or arrests; adopt and enforce specific policies that ensure fair and equitable treatment, including anti-harassment and nondiscrimination policies; implement strong oversight of police policy and practices with meaningful community involvement; implement internal audits of police encounters with LGBTQ+ people; and to develop systems for the accurate collection of data on a range of police practices.