“Who YA GONNA CALL?” Maybe not the Police: Transgender Peoples’ Perceptions of and Experiences With the Police

Transgender individuals continue to be the victims of rampant discrimination in the United States across professions and communities. Discrimination against transgender individuals by police officers may result in avoiding interactions with law enforcement. With a surge of non-biased policing training initiatives aimed at identifying and eliminating biases among police officers, and laws prohibiting discrimination by law enforcement officers, this study explores transgender individuals’ perceptions and experiences with law enforcement. Using a logistic regression, we find that transgender respondents do not feel comfortable going to the police, with many instances of abuse by police. Based on these findings, we make recommendations on how police can support the transgender community which is currently under attack.