Just last night, Inquirer.net reported that the two Makati police officers seen in a video inviting a trans woman into their station for “profiling” have been relieved from service.
According to Makati police chief Col. Rogelio Simon, the two officers in the video were patrol Timmy Paez and Police Corporal Juliet Atal.
Col. Simon says that after watching the video himself, he can say that there were “errors” in the way the two officers approached Anne Pelos [the trans woman “profiled” in the video]. He then claimed that there’s no such thing as “Oplan X-men,” saying that instead, what they have is “an anti-criminality campaign directed [at everyone] regardless of their sexuality or gender, [at] all forms of crimes perpetrated by all individuals,” which they have been implementing since October last year.
“Hindi namin sini-single out, hindi namin tinatarget ang community ng LGBT[Q+] (We are not singling out or targeting the LGBT[Q+] community),” the police chief clarified.
Col. Simon added that, upon consulting with leaders of the LGBTQ+ community, the Makati police will be undergoing a gender awareness program so that their police officers would know how to properly approach people and invite them for profiling.
Although there is still a long way to go, this incident should serve as a lesson on how law enforcers and authority figures should educate themselves more about gender sensitivity and awareness.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
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