Trans people significantly less trusting of Garda than general population

Trans people are far less likely to express trust in the Garda compared with the wider population, new research has found.

And campaigners believe a lack of trans awareness in the force and poor outcomes when efforts are made to report hate crimes are at the root of the low levels of satisfaction with and trust in the Garda.

The new research has found that only eight per cent of trans people described as “very high” their trust in the Garda, compared with 43 per cent in the wider population.

Some 84 per cent of respondents to a recent public attitudes survey found gardaí “friendly and helpful” compared with 44 per cent of trans respondents in the new report by Limerick-based researches.

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And while 58 per cent of the general public believe the Garda was a modern and progressive organisation, only 20 per cent of trans people expressed the same view.

“Misgendering, difficulties in processing official documents, poor experiences when reporting transphobic crimes and lack of meaningful outcomes for victims of crimes can have a profoundly negative impact on the levels of trust and confidence in the Garda”, said Stephen O’Hare, chief executive of Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI).

He was speaking at the launch of a new report, Gendered Policing and Policing Gender: The Trans Community and An Garda Síochána.

The report was produced for TENI by Amanda Haynes and Jennifer Schweppe of the University of Limerick's Hate and Hostility Research Group.