Sheriff's Office LGBTQ Policy 315.0

• Policy Number: 315.0
• Effective Date: 12/08/21
• This policy provides guidelines for the Osceola County Sheriff's Office to serve and collaborate with the LGBTQ community, including its members.

Policy

• Central Florida has a significant LGBTQ population and many LGBTQ visitors annually.
• The Sheriff's Office aims for fair representation for LGBTQ citizens, visitors, and agency members.
• This policy strengthens the bond between the Sheriff's Office and the LGBTQ community through trust-building.
• Such trust-building measures include community involvement, agency education, and professional policing.

Definitions

• Biphobia: Prejudice, fear, or hatred toward bisexual people.
• Bisexual: Attraction to more than one sex, gender, or gender identity, though not always simultaneously or equally.
• Cisgender: someone whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth.
• Coming Out: Acknowledgment, acceptance, and sharing of one's sexual orientation or gender identity with others.
• Gay: Attraction to members of the same gender.
• Gender Expression: External display of gender identity through name, behavior, clothing, etc.
• Gender Identity: One's innermost concept of self as male, female, both, or neither.
• Gender Non-conforming: Behavior or appearance that doesn't conform to social expectations.
• Homophobia: Fear, hatred, or discomfort with people attracted to the same sex.
• Legitimacy: Authenticity and veracity of a person's gender transition.
• Lesbian: A woman attracted to other women.
• LGBTQ: Abbreviation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning.
• Misgendering: Using incorrect names or pronouns for someone.
• Outing: Revealing someone's LGBTQ identity without permission, which can cause serious harm.
• Queer: A term used interchangeably with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals.
• Sexual Orientation: Inherent emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction to others.
• Safe Place: An OCSO initiative providing safety information and accessible places for the LGBTQ community.
• Transgender: People with a gender identity different from their assigned sex at birth.
• Transgender Female: Someone assigned male at birth who identifies and lives as female; use feminine pronouns.
• Transgender Male: Someone assigned female at birth who identifies and lives as male; use masculine pronouns.
• Transition: Changing one’s gender from the sex assigned at birth to one’s gender identity.

Procedures

• Agency personnel cannot disclose a person's transgender or non-conforming status unless required by FS 119 or for official investigations.
• When addressing the media, use the individual's adopted name, gender expression, and pronouns without revealing their transgender status.
• Take precautions to protect the privacy of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals.
• If the transgender status is a material fact or publicly known, the adopted name and gender expression can be documented as an alias.
• If the individual's transgender status is not a material fact, use their legal name and sex and avoid disclosing their transgender status.
• Personnel should be aware that transgender individuals may use an adopted name without intending to hide their legal identity.
• Personnel shall address transgender and gender non-conforming individuals by their adopted name when it is provided.
• Pronouns appropriate for a person’s gender identity shall always be used.
• Agency personnel can obtain a person's legal name and sex within the scope of their lawful duties.
• The legal name and sex of transgender individuals will be documented as required by public record laws.

Reporting Sexual Violence

• LGBTQ sexual assault survivors may fear reprisal, law enforcement's ineffectiveness, prior mistreatment, or being seen as unimportant.
• Victims may fear being outed or outing their offender, especially in same-sex relationships or at LGBTQ events.
• People living with HIV may fear public disclosure of their status, leading to negative repercussions.
• LGBTQ individuals might fear mistreatment by law enforcement, courts, or medical facilities.
• Transgender survivors often report being misgendered, blamed for assaults, or arrested instead of their attackers.

Interviewing LGBTQ Victims of Sexual Violence

• Deputies should explain the investigation process to LGBTQ victims of sexual violence.
• Acknowledge potential distrust or fear of law enforcement and ensure fair investigation.
• Address privacy concerns and clarify what information may become public, including written documentation and recordings.
• Acknowledge that transgender people might use different terms for their anatomy.
• Understand that societal stigma can make it difficult for transgender men to describe sexual assault experiences.
• Document all information provided by the victim, regardless of the circumstances.
• LGBTQ victims might be reluctant to report crimes due to fear or previous targeting.
• Look for co-occurring crimes like intimate partner violence, stalking, human trafficking, etc.
• Provide referrals to local agencies for sexual assault and intimate partner violence.
• Transgender members should use their legal name on official documents and when under oath.
• If the member has a legal name change, Human Resources must be notified to update all databases.

Transition on the Job

• A transitioning member should meet with their chain-of-command and/or Human Resources to develop a transition plan.
• Transition plans can be customized, since every member is unique.
• Determining date of gender expression change, name change, and pronoun usage.
• Members have the right to safe restroom/locker room facilities aligning with their gender identity.
• Human Resources assists with changes in agency records, identification cards, and databases.

Privacy

• Personal information should only be shared with agency personnel who need it to perform their jobs.
• Transition plans or other agency documents may be subject to public disclosure.

Appearance and Dress Standards

• Members must follow appearance and grooming standards that align with their gender identity.

Calls for Service

• Calls involving transgender individuals should be handled like any other call, following applicable laws and Sheriff's Office policies.

Stop and Frisk

• Stop and frisk encounters must follow agency policy and state/federal law.
• A stop, frisk, or search should not be based solely on determining anatomical gender and transgender individuals should not be subjected to more invasive search or frisk procedures than non-transgender individuals.
• Sworn members are cautioned not to treat a transgender individual as a suspect based on appearance.
• The presence of needles may indicate hormone treatment.

Reporting

• Incident reports and other documents must use the transgender individual's legal name.
• Preferred names should be listed as aliases.
• The report narrative should note if the person is transgender, and use appropriate pronouns.
• Biological gender is entered in the "Sex" field, while current gender identity is entered in the "Gender" field of the database.
• Criminal offenses should be reclassified if prejudice is involved.

Prisoners

• Complaint/Arrest affidavits must be prepared consistently with Policy 247.0.
• Pat-down searches of transgender persons can be conducted by an officer of either sex.
• Prisoners should not be searched to determine genital status and with the express goal of demeaning.
• Prisoners with hairpieces or prosthetics must remove them to the same extent as other prisoners.
• Strip searches must follow Policy 405.0.
• Prisoners who don't specify gender identity should be searched by an officer of the same gender as their overt gender expression.
• Transgender prisoners shall be transported with the understanding of prisoner's stated gender identity.
• Transgender prisoners cannot be transported with non-transgender prisoners unless they were arrested together or the vehicle has separate areas.
• The transporting member must record starting and ending mileage.

Safe Place

• The Sheriff’s office is committed to the safety of all LGBTQ residents and visitors.
• The OCSO Safe Place initiative offers safety information and safe locations for threatened, harassed, or victimized LGBTQ individuals.
• The Sheriff's Office provides decals for local entities to display as a symbol of safety.

LGBTQ Liaison Program

• The Sheriff's Office has a volunteer group of sworn and civilian employees.
• The responsibilities of the volunteer group include working with LGBTQ associations and groups.
• Conducting agency training on cultural conditions and outreach.
• Providing community education through the agency website and public forums.