Anna Orso | November 20, 2019 | Philadelphia Inquirer |
Police officers across New Jersey must follow new rules related to interacting with transgender and nonbinary people, a move the state attorney general says will protect residents from discrimination based on gender identity.
Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced the new police directive Wednesday, which was the national Transgender Day of Remembrance, memorializing people killed as a result of anti-trans violence.
The directive applies to all state, county, and local law enforcement agencies, and all officers in New Jersey must be trained on it by June 1.
The directive requires officers to address people by the name and pronouns associated with their gender identity, even if that name isn’t on official records. It also states officers should never publicly disclose a person’s sexual orientation or gender assigned at birth without consent of the person or unless for a “proper law enforcement purpose.” And, it notes, “as a general rule” officers should treat a person based on their gender identity regardless of gender assigned at birth.
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