Police workforces must reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. Recruiting transgender people to the Civic Police Volunteer Force is a great first step towards ending stigma and discrimination which increases HIV risk.
Read the original article here
According to The Indian Express report, The West Bengal government has asked the Kolkata Police to recruit transgenders into Civic Police Volunteer Force (CPVC). This move will help in ending any discrimination against the community.
CPVC, also known as ‘Green Police’, primarily assists the Kolkata Police in traffic management. Shashi Panja, the State Minister for Women and Child Development proposed this idea during a meeting of the West Bengal Transgender Development Board and later spoke to the Kolkata Police Commissioner about it.
This is the first time that any government has offered to recruit transgenders, even if it is the civic police volunteer force. West Bengal government has taken special provisions to ensure the status upgrade of transgenders in the state in the form of new initiatives such as helplines for transgenders or the formation of a special development board to address their issues. It does not end here, West Bengal appointed a transgender as the head of a local college and has already created history.
Shashi Panja, State minister for women and child development says, “The prime issue that we face is that people don’t have respect for the transgender community. But if they are incorporated as volunteers in the civic police force, then it will gradually allow people to imagine them in different roles.”
Access the original article here
