#19 - HOW DO WE MAKE POLICE OFFICERS TREAT TRANSGENDER PEOPLE FAIRLY? – Professor Jace Valcore

On this episode, Professor Valcore and I discuss the history of policing in the transgender community, the current state of affairs, what impact has training on addressing the problem, and steps we can take to create an institution that provides all communities with fair and equitable police services.  

Jace L. Valcore, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Houston Downtown. His educational background includes degrees in Sociology, Criminal Justice, and Public Affairs.  This multidisciplinary training fuels research interests in public policy, criminal law, social justice, and the criminal legal system with a specifically queer lens focused on the experiences, needs, and elevation of the LGBTQ community.  He is currently completing projects on the experiences of LGBTQ police officers, media analysis of the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, FL, hate speech in political campaigns, and more.  He provides queer competency workshops, including Trans 101 in-service police training, and serves on UHD’s Criminal Justice Training Center Advisory Board and the Houston Independent Police Oversight Board.  https://www.uhd.edu/academics/public-service/criminal-justice/Pages/valcore.aspx

Map of Gender Diverse Cultures from PBS Independent Lens: https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/content/two-spirits_map-html/

DOJ Community Relations Service Roll Call Training Video: https://www.justice.gov/crs/video/law-enforcement-and-transgender-community-crs-roll-call-training-video

Tom Baker has been a PhD student in UMSL's Criminology and Criminal Justice program since 2017. Tom received his BA in Political Science from Arizona State University and worked as a police officer for approximately nine years. His research interests include police culture, use of force, and qualitative research methods. https://www.umsl.edu/ccj/Graduate%20Students/baker.html

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