Newport Pride co-founders reflect on police department adding LGBTQ+ liaison
NEWPORT — Newport’s historically underserved LGBTQ community has a new connection in the police department: The city’s very first LGBTQ+ liaison.
“We hear from the community that people don’t feel comfortable just talking to the police or reporting harassment, or anything related to that, but if there’s somebody in the police that’s willing to talk to you and she’s also part of the community, I feel like that’s way more important,” Newport Pride co-founder Daniel Cano Restrepo said. “It creates that trust within the community.”
The position was developed in partnership with Newport Pride Inc., a local LGBTQ advocacy organization, as a way to improve the police department’s relationship and communication with Newport’s queer community.
The new LGBTQ liasion, Officer Caitlin Poplawski, was unavailable for comment at the time of the announcement. However, Newport Pride co-founders Sean O’Connor and Restrepo said she was integral in getting the position established.
“She wanted to make that change,” Restrepo said. “She wanted to learn more on how she can support our work in the work that she does and how she can support our community.”
O’Connor said the development of this position was partially inspired by the Human Rights Commission’s annual Municipality Equality Index, which rates cities and towns on the prevalence and availability of resources for their LGBTQ community. Having an LGBTQ liaison for the city counts as a point in the city’s favor for the next evaluation.
There is more to the position than that, however. Restrepo said creating a community liaison position within the police department will start improving the individual relationships people have with the police department.
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“This is the start to making some kind of change,” Restrepo said. “(The LGBTQ community’s relationship with) the police has been broken for a long time and we do believe that, to make those changes, the relationships between people one-to-one need to start changing as well.”
O’Connor also pointed to recent events, such as the targeted LGBTQ nightclub shooting in Colorado Springs, to show the importance of finding safety for the community by working alongside existing institutions as well as through alternative strategies.
Newport Pride plans to help host a couple community conversations with LGBTQ Newporters to understand the best ways this position can help make them feel more safe and understood by the police.
“We want to figure out what that balance looks like in a way that’s recognizing what people are comfortable with and also prioritizing safety and security,” O’Connor said.
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Newport Pride pleased with police's new LGBTQ liaison position
