The Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC) in partnership with ProActividad is implementing a programme to increase the respect for LGBTQ+ person rights in the Dominican Republic. The two-year project called “Advancing Respect for LGBTQ Rights in the Dominican Republic” is funded by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and is scheduled to run until October 2024.
As part of the project, a modular curriculum on inclusion and diversity issues was developed to be included in the overall training given to new recruits at the National Police Academy. This curriculum has been used over the past few months in several training sessions for new police recruits. “The idea is to insert these modules into the national police training curriculum. Each of the four modules consists of four hours of hands-on content to better equip police officers with the skills they require to handle various situations they’re likely to be confronted with, especially in relation to minority groups like the LGBTQ community,” explains Elias Ramos from CVC. “During this project, ProActividad and CVC have perfected and piloted this curriculum in conjunction with the National Police in the Dominican Republic. Some one hundred and sixty police officers from Santo Domingo and Santiago have been exposed to the training at the academy so far in 2024,” Ramos added.
Ramos also noted that there are plans to fully integrate the pilot modules into the police training curriculum. “Once the curriculum has been refined and revised based on the pilot run, we will conduct a training of trainers with the faculty at the Police Academy at the end of the year, so that the curriculum can be fully integrated into the future training of all recruits in the Dominican Republic,” Ramos noted.
Meanwhile Lieutenant Colonel Rudy Reynoso, from the department of Strategic Planning of the National Police pointed out that policing has to evolve as times change. “As society has changed in becoming more inclusive and diverse, the nature of policing has had to alter accordingly and this is reflected in the mission statements, targets and goals within the Dominican National Police’s strategic plans,” said Lieutenant Colonel Reynoso.
The training sessions featured immersive content which saw new recruits reacting in real time to real life scenarios. CVC’s Head of Monitoring, Evaluation and Research, Dr. John Waters says this is crucial to effectively bringing the modules to life. “Police training should involve both classroom and in-the-field elements in the curriculum, so that there is a degree of congruity between what is learned formally and what is learned when on-the-job”, said Dr. Waters. “For this reason, the training includes role playing exercises and real case studies as part of the course. LGBTQ groups often voice a lack of confidence in the ability of the police service to treat them equitably and with respect, and as a consequence they’re often unwilling to engage with police in terms of reporting crimes against them or in offering to co-operate as witnesses,” Dr. Waters added.
The CVC Head of Monitoring, Evaluation and Research also pointed out that the available data supports the need to undertake training sessions with new police recruits to ensure that the rights of LGBTQ+ people are respected. “From the cases documented on CVC’s Shared Incident Database (SID) and at the COIN Human Rights Observatory by LGBTQ groups in the Dominican Republic, many community members are concerned that their report would not be taken seriously. Others describe the emotional cost to them as victims of reporting hate crime, with fears centering around being brushed off, having to out themselves to police and/or parents in reporting a crime, or the potential for police staff not understanding their experience as an LGBTQ person,” Dr. Waters explain. “What is apparent is that this situation needs to be remedied as it is both in the interest of the LGBTQ community and the police service to ensure that all sections of society are treated with due respect and in accordance with due process to ensure efficient and effective policing. It is therefore crucial that police recruit training involves an understanding of the frequency of victimisation of diverse groups and the procedural issues in responding to hate crimes,” Dr. Waters added. In the meantime, participants welcomed the inclusion of the modules in their training curriculum. “The real-life case studies were very eye-opening and really hit home the importance of building up trust with the LGBTQ+ community,” one of the new police recruits noted. While another added, “We know that hate crime remains under-reported so it is important that we as the police are doing everything we can to support the LGBTQ+ community and give them the reassurance they need to come forward and make a report.”
