Push for LGBTQI+ sensitivity training for Qld police after new safeguard laws

Queensland Police should undergo further training to deal with searching LGBTQI+ prisoners a parliamentary committee has recommended.

New laws were introduced for Queensland police officers

Queensland Police should undergo further training to deal with searching LGBTQI+ prisoners a parliamentary committee has recommended, while reviewing new laws aimed at enshrining new safeguards for gender diverse people.

Corrective Services Minister Nikki Boyd introduced the new laws in March, which she said at the time were “modernising safeguards when it comes to personalised searches, inspection of a person’s belongings and forensic procedures to better recognise and promote the rights of diverse Queenslanders”.

“To ensure those searches remain legal, the bill enshrines safeguards in primary legislation

around: people who are being searched being able to express a preference regarding the gender of the officer conducting the search,” she said.

Community Support and Services Committee chair Adrian Tantari – the committee charged with reviewing the changes – said the recommendations were “provide further guidance to agencies ensuring gender diverse people undergoing personal searches or other procedures in law enforcement and/or clinical settings are appropriately supported before, during and after the procedure.”

“The committee notes the advice of the Queensland Police Service that the safeguards in the Bill would apply based to a person’s gender and not their sex,” the report stated.

“The committee supports the suggestions of Pride in Law and LGBTI Legal Service that there be specific and ongoing training for QPS officers in respect to this relatively new framework and how it would apply in an operational setting.”

In their submission on the new laws, the Queensland Police Union called for “clear recognition in the legislation that an officer is not obliged to disclose their own gender to the person being searched”, or undertake a search which would make an officer feel “embarrassed”.

In response, Queensland Police Service told the committee “the QPS advised that an officer is not required to disclose information about their gender identity, and the Bill’s proposed reforms do not require an officer to conduct a search”.

As well as further training, the committee also recommended Queensland Corrective Services address the current difficulties in recruiting psychologist with a “proactive recruitment campaign”, and “further clarification of the circumstances in which it is not ‘reasonably practicable’ to accommodate a gender preference”.

“We will always stand up for the rights of all Queenslanders, including our trans and gender diverse communities, victims of crime and our hardworking frontline officers,” Ms Boyd said while introducing the Bill.

“In addition to modernising several acts through the removal of gendered language, the bill recognises the trans and gender diverse community by introducing a safe gender starting point for searches and a dialogue model safeguard which recognise gender diversity and provide responsive protections when powers are exercised.”