Masquerade meeting - "Meeting the POLICE"
For our January 8, 2002, meeting, our guest speaker was Winnipeg Police Service Sergent Ron Johansson! He arrived IN UNIFORM! Cool. It was funny to see his face as he walked in the room. I'm not sure what he could be thinking:-)
He is head of the Diversity Relations division, which is kinda of a liason between various groups, communities, and the police service, helping each to understand each other better. He started out just in a conversation with us, not realy a presentation, and asked us about as many questions as we asked him. He told us he had visited our web sites, and had read about our shopping trips to Polo Park and The Forks adventures.
Basicaly, he advised us that we were in no way breaking any laws by dressing and going out in public. That's it, bottom line, period! He assured us that if we were to come in contact with the police for any reason, that we should be treated no different than if we had been in contact with the police in guy-mode. He did say that yes, it may be a shock to the officer involved, and that each officer will react different. However, he pointed out that if we were feeling we were not treated with proper respect, that we did have recourse. CALL HIM!! And he will speak with the officers. He even said to mention his name. (Nice to have the police on our side*S*).
I can understand how various officers may react to us in different ways if we were to be stopped. The Sergent Johannson said that the mandate of his division is to educate the officers of the department what they are to expect in the field, and that now that he has come to our meeting, met with us, that he can add this to his list of "this is what you will face on the streets" during talks at the district offices and the police academy. He basicaly said that without the knowledge that our community exists, that the service can't have and understanding about what it all is about.
So basically, he left us all with the feeling that we have absolutely nothing to fear from the police at all, unless of course we were in fact caught speeding or breaking another law. He did say that as long as we inform officers who we realy are without trying to hide our real names, and provide our proper identification, we are not doing anything wrong with our crossdressing in public. He said we should not ever hesitate to contact the police just because of how we are dressed. His comment "You are all citizens of the city of Wininpeg and are entitled to the same level of police service as any other citizen!"
Ok, I know you are wondering. Yes, Shandi asked him for us all "Which bathroom do we use?" Guess what his answer was?? He thought about it for a moment, then his reaction was "Use the Women's!". He said we'd cause more of a hastle going to the "guy's". He said being dressed and presenting as female, we'd be better off using the ladies room. He smiled when he said make sure the feet are pointing the right way.
When asked if it was a problem to do so, he replied that if all we did was go in, do the thing, then wash up and leave, then there is no intent to do anything more, like peek at girls under a stall, so who would have a case for anything else. He said as far as he knew, there was no law about this. Edwina pointed out to the officer that technically, there are no longer "men's rooms" or "lady's rooms". Using the symbols of a person wearing a dress or a person wearing pants, the suggestion is that if you are wearing a dress, you go in this one, and if you are wearing pants, you go in this one. The officer aggreed with that suggestion. Further talking with the officer about the bathroom issue, he felt there really should be no problem because the intent was to use the facility, not to peep at other girls. Edwina told us of a TS friend of hers who was thrown ot of a restaurant a while ago for using the ladies room. The TS Girl went to the Human Rights Commision, and got that restaurant in a heep of trouble!
We were all glad to have had the officer's input. A short while after the meeting, he did send an E-mial to Shandi saying it would be best NOT to use the womans rest rooms! So we're no farther ahead with the correct, or easy answer!
I'd love to hear of your experiences where this subject is concerned.
Thanks for reading my story,
Sabrina
E-mail me at sabrina_markes@masquerade.ca
Member of the Winnipeg support group - "Masquerade"