Pennsylvania State Police Won't Document LGBT Contacts

by Timothy Cwiek for the Philadelphia Gay News

One evening in May, William M. Granatt was driving to Center City to socialize at a gay bar when a state police trooper stopped him on Vine Street near 15th for allegedly swerving on the Schuylkill Expressway.

Granatt, 56, a resident of Bala Cynwyd, denies swerving, and insists he consumed no alcohol that night.

Nevertheless, he said, Trooper Christopher O’Brien cited him for swerving, arrested him on suspicion of drunk driving, and had his car impounded.

Upon the recommendation of O’Brien, local authorities charged Granatt with driving under the influence of alcohol — even though a breathalyzer test wasn’t administered, and prior to the completion of Granatt’s blood-alcohol test results.

Granatt was required to spend 12 hours in a holding cell at the Police Administration Building, then released on his own recognizance — but not before being ordered to appear in court for future proceedings.

In July, a trial commissioner withdrew the DUI charge due to lack of evidence. Later that summer, Granatt’s traffic citation also was dismissed.

Granatt, a school teacher, feels vindicated by the court victories. “I was never arrested before in my life,” he said.

In his opinion, he was “profiled” as a criminal by O’Brien due to his sexual orientation. He says materials inside his vehicle, along with other identifying characteristics, conveyed his sexual orientation to the trooper.

O’Brien declined to comment for this story.

Whether Granatt’s story is isolated, or part of a larger pattern, is difficult to ascertain — partly because state police officials do not document their trooper-initiated contacts with LGBT citizens.

State police officials generate about 300,000 citizen-contact forms each year, documenting trooper-initiated motorist stops on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, age and ZIP code.

Subcategories for ethnicity include white, black, Native American, Asian Pacific Islander, White Hispanic, Black Hispanic, Middle Eastern and Unknown.

Methods of gathering information include relying on the perceptions of the trooper, utilizing information yielded from a driver’s license or receiving information volunteered by the citizen.

Jack Lewis, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania State Police, said the agency has no plans to add categories for sexual orientation or gender identity on the contact forms.

“We don’t feel it’s necessary,” Lewis said. “There’s no reason for it.”

He acknowledged there’s no law preventing the agency from adding the categories.

“The categories ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ could be added to the Pennsylvania State Police citizen-contact forms, but the department does not believe that would be beneficial and could result in legal action against the department,” Lewis said.

He didn’t elaborate on the potential legal action that’s feared by state police officials.

Kathleen R. Padilla, a transgender activist, disagrees with Lewis. She believes it’s only fair to add categories that would cover the LGBT communities.

“If the purpose is to get documentation on how different groups are being treated by the authorities, then why not add these groups?” Padilla said. “To do otherwise gives the impression that this type of discrimination is unimportant to them. They appear to be sweeping the problem under the rug.”

The citizen-contact forms are anonymous, and individual forms aren’t released to the public. Aggregate information from the forms is made public in an analysis that’s done by the state police to determine whether troopers are “profiling” certain groups for disparate treatment.

Even with these layers of confidentiality, Padilla said she realized that some LGBT citizens may choose to withhold personal information from the forms.

But she said the withholding of personal information might be occurring within the existing categories as well.

“Adding ‘gender identity’ and ‘sexual orientation’ won’t capture all of the people with those characteristics,” Padilla continued. “But at least these groups will be treated equally in the process.”

She also rejected the argument that adding the categories might prompt a lawsuit against the Pennsylvania State Police.

“Couldn’t that argument be used against the whole concept of documenting racial profiling — that it shouldn’t be done because it might result in a lawsuit?” Padilla posed.

Lewis pointed out that troopers receive ongoing training against biased-based policing.

“Training regarding biased-based policing is provided to state police cadets while they are in the State Police Academy, and through yearly required training programs for all troopers,” Lewis said. “Rules regarding biased-based policing are part of state police regulations that all troopers are required to follow. In addition, each trooper must swear to ‘obey the law and to enforce it without any consideration of class, color, creed or condition.’”

Lewis also emphasized that Granatt has the right to file a complaint with the State Policy Bureau of Integrity and Professional Standards if he believes his arrest was improper.

Granatt said he plans to file an internal complaint, but he’s also considering other legal options. “It was terrible how I was treated,” he said.