Cops consider more changes after death of Black transgender woman in Newark – NJ.com

An attorney for the family of Ashley Moore, a Black transgender woman who was found dead in Newark five months ago, had a suggestion for police on Wednesday during a virtual town hall.

Cops could start each stop with a question: “’How would you like me to address you?’” That, Celeste Fiore said, would help officers address people who are transgender or gender nonbinary more respectfully.

“It’s very simple. First name, last name,” said Fiore, who identifies as gender nonbinary. “There are a lot of really practical – really easy ways – where we can recognize each other’s humanity and eliminate the friction that happens at these access points between people and systems.”

It was an idea that acting Newark Deputy Chief Brian O’Hara was receptive to. He said it could be an easy, quick addition to the training officers undergo.

“If we added this, ‘How would you like me to address you,’ that can de-escalate potential incidents and it can just also add such a high level of respect,” said O’Hara.

The town hall was held in the wake of Moore’s death. Her mother, Starlet Carbins, and local LGBTQ activists raised concerns about how her death was investigated and why it took so long to contact her family in a different state.

Moore, 26, was found dead outside the YM/WCA at 600 Broad St. during the early morning hours of April 1. A police report indicated that a doctor made an early assessment and told cops she might have been struck by a car, but the incident was not investigated as a homicide.

Detectives from the Newark Police Department concluded Moore jumped to her death from the YM/WCA while they awaited the final report from the medical examiner’s office, a notoriously slow agency. Cameras from inside the YM/WCA did not show Moore coming down the stairs, while city surveillance panned away in the moments before Moore was found on the ground.

The police report misidentified Moore’s preferred pronouns.

Carbins and activists from the Newark LGBTQ Community Center questioned her cause of death. Her mom said Moore’s injuries – a disfigured and swollen neck, ligature marks on her legs and rectal bleeding – could have been indications that her child was raped.

The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, which generally investigates homicides, said it would examine the case after activists spoke out. The city police department also added a gender identity checkbox on police reports and created a hotline to connect LGBTQ residents to social services after calling the police.

The town hall was held Wednesday so those within the LGBTQ community could ask questions of the police, share their own experiences and network. Mayor Ras Baraka and Central Ward Councilwoman LaMonica McIver attended.

The city entered into a long list of reforms known as a consent decree in 2016 after the federal Department of Justice found a pattern of unconstitutional practices within the police department.

O’Hara – a commander of the accountability, engagement and oversight bureau in the Newark Police Division – said the city’s consent decree did not mandate reforms involving LGBTQ. That’s because no records were found showing a pattern of abuses towards LGBTQ people, he said, only anecdotal evidence.

“I think everybody here already knows that if there’s going to be an investigation and the feds are going to come in and look for records of folks having problems with the police, you’re not going to find it,” O’Hara said. “Because the records don’t exist. Because if we’re talking about the folks who have been among the most marginalized, we already know that these interactions were not documented.”

The city police department already laid out a policy last year about how to interact with people who are transgender during stops. It was the first in the state to do so and the guidelines were written after several community meetings.

The police division also attended a two-day LGBTQ workshop last month with Amanda Simpson, a social worker with Hetrick Martin Institute. She explained the history of police interactions with the LGBTQ community and gender biases.

O’Hara said he wanted LGBTQ training for officers to be incorporated with other forms of training, not a specialized program. The culture of the police department, O’Hara said, is also changing. About 500 new cops have been hired in the last five years, he said.

“I think that’s a good thing because as we’re bringing in newer officers, younger officers, that were not a part of the old ways and the mistakes of the past,” O’Hara said. “I think that has helped us implement a lot of the reforms that we’re seeing.”

Brian Holmes, who has been a Newark cop for about two years, is one of those new hires. Holmes, who introduced himself in the public town hall as a Black gay man, is the new police liaison for the LGBTQ community and the department.

“I am looking forward to working with you all to be more involved in the community – to create a safe space for everyone – for members of the LGBTQ community,” Holmes said.

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Rebecca Panico may be reached at rpanico@njadvancemedia.com.