From Baltimore Gay Life Online

Police and the LGBT Community In the Wake of An Assault

By Jason Young

August 20, 2004

On July 30, when three men assaulted Matt Gumenick so badly he required a trip to Sinai Hospital and seven stitches, his friend Eric Robinson turned to the Baltimore Police Department for help.

At a little before 2:30 a.m., Officer Charles Grimes of BPD's Central District, along with another officer, arrived on the scene.

The assault on Gumenick, which included kicking and beating, had occurred five minutes before in the parking lot across from the Hippo and Grand Central, the gay nightclub where he works. Considering the location of the unprovoked attack and that no robbery took place, some in the community have speculated the crime was hate-motivated.

According to Robinson, Grimes listened to their complaint and saw Gumenick's cuts and bruises, but failed to fill out a police report or write down the attackers' vehicle information. Robinson says Grimes was dismissive and questioned the accuracy of the tag number Robinson took down.

Though satisfied that a report was filed by a different officer after the fact, stunned community leaders want to know why police were initially less than responsive. Others have gone further and called for Grimes to be immediately reprimanded or discharged from the force.

BPD's Central District commander, Maj. John Skinner, has launched an internal investigation; as of press time, the inquiry remains open. A police spokesman said he could not comment further on the investigation or speculate when it may conclude.

Members of Mayor Martin O'Malley's LGBT Task Force vow to play an active role in monitoring the progress of the case.

"An internal investigation has been ordered by the commander of the Central District, and I look forward to receiving that information," says Anthony W. McCarthy, chair of the mayor's Task Force.

McCarthy notes that he is "extraordinarily pleased with the level of communication that occurs between the [police] commissioner's office, the mayor's office and the Task Force."

Hippo owner Chuck Bowers, who has lived in Charm City for 60 years, calls the initial police inaction in Gumenick's case "unusual" and says, "I was shocked by how this whole thing went down. I've never had a problem with the police department."

Out of safety concerns for his employees and patrons, Bowers pays a few off-duty police officers to guard his nightclub, particularly on Saturdays. "I just wish we had more police officers on the streets, not just in Mt. Vernon, but all over," he says.

Sensitivity Training

As a volunteer and "out of personal interest," Jon Kaplan has used his position on Mayor Martin O'Malley's LGBT Task Force to interact with the police department on LGBT issues.

He says he is concerned with the adequacy of officers' sensitivity training, adding, "It just bothers me that we can't be proactive, we must be reactive. I wish there was more initiative from the police department to make it happen."

Kaplan says there have been other times when BPD's responsiveness and sensitivity to LGBT concerns have been in question.

He recalls, for example, Eric Kowalczk, a BPD officer who sought to march in uniform in the 2003 Pride Parade, was told "no" by his superiors. Kaplan, who at the time was executive director of the state's LGBT-rights organization, says a compromise was reached and the officer was permitted to march, but not in uniform.

"I think it was ignorance and partly insensitivity is what it was," Kaplan says of the department's first response to the officer's request. "Part of the problem is the culture that exists in the police force."

To change that culture, Kaplan now seeks to bring additional sensitivity training to officers, adding: "My main concern is that we get proper training for the seasoned officers."

Sgt. Brett Parson, commander of the Metropolitan Police Department Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit in Washington, D.C., agrees that different factors are at play when training experienced officers versus new recruits.

"That's a whole different animal when you're dealing with veteran officers," he says. "You have to overcome their resistance."

Officer Troy Harris, a BPD public information officer, confirms that new recruits, called cadets, get training that is different from that which is provided to the rest of the force. Veteran officers, for example, go through only "regular in-service trainings," which include discussions of race, gender and sexual orientation, among other things.

On the other hand, cadets go through a more comprehensive and LGBT-specific sensitivity training program. For the past couple of years, the training has been taught by Parson, who says "recruits are very, very eager to learn about this."

Parson's course usually runs two-and-a-half to three hours and covers three areas.

Parson calls the first segment "GLBT 101." He goes through the acronym, explaining what it means letter by letter.

He often asks BPD cadets, "How many of you are members of this community yourself?"

He says "not many [officers] in that department live and work openly. I think the general environment in Baltimore City is different" from other cities where he has conducted trainings, including D.C., Philadelphia and Dallas.

The second part of Parson's course is about the work of D.C.'s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit and how it interfaces with the LGBT community.

He says his unit has "built a bridge" and established trust between the Capital Area's LGBT community and police. In fact, that bridge is so strong that his unit is called to Baltimore a couple times a year to help with investigations.

Parson calls the third part of his course "What They Didn't Teach Me at the Academy." During this segment, he engages in "situational role plays" with cadets where, for example, "You pull over a member of the transgender community and their driver's license looks different. You need to know what to do."

He says other circumstances he puts cadets through include "same-sex domestic violence situations and how to handle searches and detention."

He wraps up with questions and answers.

Parson reports that the overall impact of a stronger relationship between law enforcement and the LGBT community could be that "reports by community members rise. It looks like crime against the gay community is going up, but that's not the case. You've built trust, and [the police] start to hear about crimes that were always going on."

He adds, "People who trust the police feel safer."

Kaplan is now at work contacting other police departments throughout the country to obtain their sensitivity curricula. He would like to see a training program in Baltimore that incorporates "the best of the trainings that are out there."

He also says that he expects that Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Clark will meet with members of the mayor's Task Force in the coming weeks.

"When you have the support from the top levels [of the department], it's easier," he says.

McCarthy, the Task Force chair, agrees and says he believes Commissioner Clark is very supportive.

"Commissioner Clark comes from New York, where gays and lesbians serve openly and proud," says McCarthy. "He is committed to creating and sustaining an environment that's sensitive to the LGBT community. He has communicated that to his command staff."

Sensitivity to Transgender Issues

While Parson makes sure to discuss transgender-specific issues with cadets, it is not clear that veteran officers receive such training as part of their in-services.

An official at the Maryland AIDS Administration says his agency is considering a collaboration with BPD to bring transgender sensitivity training to officers. He says he is "not aware of specific problems at the police department" with respect to the transgender community.

"We recently began a general transgender training for health and human service providers, and in realizing the landscape of need for education about this population we speculated that the police might welcome a training on this subject," writes Kip Castner, a division chief at the AIDS administration, in an e-mail to Gay Life.

"Because the police are neither a health nor human service provider, any training offered to them would have to be modified, and we would seek their input into designing a training to meet their needs," he adds. "We have not [yet] approached the police department with an offer."

Police History

Bowers, the Hippo's owner, recalls that, "as a boy growing up, you knew the police by name. It's a whole different world now."

Bowers says throughout his entire life he has never had problems with BPD. He says he "couldn't ask for a better police department. They watch out for my customers."

Many in the LGBT community in Baltimore and elsewhere, however, have had adversarial relationships with the police - none more historic than the clash in June 1969 between New York City police and patrons of the Stonewall Inn.

Raids on gay bars and other "bawdy" establishments were not uncommon back then and usually proceeded without resistance - though on that momentous summer evening 35 years ago patrons fought back, spurring three days of riots and the organized push for full LGBT equality.

But even as recently as 1997, the ACLU of Maryland found it necessary to file suit against police to protect the free speech rights of the LGBT community. The ACLU alleged that police were using undercover sting operations to unfairly target and arrest gay men for simply discussing sex in Baltimore-area parks.

McCarthy believes BPD will make strides under the leadership of Clark, who he credits with having already ushered in a command friendlier to LGBT concerns.

"Commissioner Clark is real clear that nothing is ever perfect," says McCarthy. "He's working on it. It is also incumbent on the LGBT community to push for more awareness of the issues we care about."