The Edmonton Police Service said it will focus on recruiting and training following months of consultation with the LGBTQ community.
As part of its reconciliation efforts, the EPS consulted with members of the LGBTQ community from July to October 2019. The consultations included one-on-one interviews, small group interviews, focus groups, online surveys and social media engagement.
Chief Dale McFee said the EPS received very valuable feedback from the community and its own officers on how the service can do better. The feedback identified several gaps, with recruiting and training being the two main areas of focus.
“This is where our priorities are right now with a number of short-term goals, some of which have already been implemented and are being worked on,” McFee said.
The EPS said it will build on its current inclusivity and bias training by developing a new LGBTQ2S+ Recruit Training Module that will centre around historic trauma, understanding marginalization and connecting with people’s experiences.
The training will be mandatory for both sworn and civilian members of the EPS and include members of the LGBTQ community. The training will be piloted with the next recruit training class, the EPS said in a media release Friday.
The EPS said it will also work with its recruitment unit to build a more specific inclusivity strategy, following feedback that the LGBTQ community would like to see their community better reflected within the police service.
In May 2019, shortly after taking over as the city’s top cop, McFee issued a formal apology on behalf of the entire police force, saying historically, the service has failed the LGBTQ community.
“Our actions caused pain. They eroded trust. They created fear,” McFee said at the time.
“They caused members of the public and our service alike to feel unsafe on their own streets, in their workplaces and even their homes.”
After the apology, McFee committed to addressing the social issues on a careful, case-by-case basis.
Through its consultations, the EPS said the LGBTQ community wanted to better understand what they can expect from police at public events such as parades and protests. The EPS has since created a police liaison co-ordinator position who will work with the inclusion and equity branch to communicate with members of the public around these events.
“This is a major step to building trust,” McFee said. “This is a tool to help those with traumatic and negative experiences understand and prepare for situations that will involve the police, and how the police will present themselves and their role.”
The EPS said Friday its communications branch will also undergo changes in its inclusivity and bias awareness training. The first step in this process will be a review of the current and ongoing training related to inclusive language, identity and bias.
“This isn’t the end, but the beginning of our journey,” McFee said. “We won’t always be perfect, we may make mistakes along the way, but this relationship is and will remain a priority for EPS.”
Other short-term solutions include modifying the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIPP) request language to be gender inclusive and changing the detainee management unit intake process to allow for non-binary and trans identification.