The Kansas City Police Department apologized Sunday for tweets about a transgender prostitute officers encountered on a ride-along.
During what the police called a “tweet-along” — in which officers live-tweeted a patrol — the department’s official Twitter account tweeted about a run-in on Friday with a prostitute.
Concluding the interaction, the account tweeted: “Wait. That prostitute was, in fact, a man. Not doing anything against the law at present so they let him/her go.”
The tweets have since been deleted but were preserved by Twitter users:
the @kcpolice regularly target and harass trans women. This is not an isolated incident. #kctweetalong pic.twitter.com/DMF0pbMt6G
— Wick Trick (@Wicholas) December 21, 2014
After backlash on social media, the department issued an apology Sunday afternoon in a series of tweets.
1/3 During Fri’s #kctweetalong, we posted tweet that was offensive to LGBTQ & KC communities & we apologize for it.
— Kansas City Police (@kcpolice) December 21, 2014
2/3 KCPD works tirelessly to educate ourselves on & serve all of our community. We’re committed to building culture of respect & inclusivity
— Kansas City Police (@kcpolice) December 21, 2014
3/3 We regret any hurt this may’ve caused. It conflicted w/ our values & we look forward to fostering relationships w/ dialog & respect
— Kansas City Police (@kcpolice) December 21, 2014
Really? That was easy. But so much harder for some police departments and their unions to apologize for enacting the death penalty against citizens without due cause?
I don’t know I didn’t see any blatantly offensive comments being made. What I see is a casual conversation going on and surprise that what they thought was a female prostitute was actually a man. It’s a reaction I think anyone would have given the same circumstance’s. I don’t know maybe I missed something. Even the suggestion that Sonic was hiring didn’t seem all that offensive to me. Did I miss something?
When do we get to see the offensive tweets?
I think the point is that it shouldn’t matter one fucking bit. The fact that they take special notice of it raises concerns that they take special action because of it.
Nope, a transgender woman is NOT actually a man. She is a woman, full stop. Her biological sex is no one’s business except those she chooses to share it with. That and the assumption the woman was a prostitute are two obvious reasons the tweets were offensive.