An article today in The Daily Beast reports the Philadelphia police have made one arrest in the case, and expect to be making three more soon.
The man in custody, Pedro Redding, has confessed to robbing Ms Jenkins, and has provided names of his accomplices, one of which was the gunman, to police. The officer leading the investigation says their arrests are "imminent."
According to Deja Alvarez of the Trans-Health Information Project (TIP), the manner in which police are handling this case shows a marked improvement over past practices.
Some details follow . . .
As the article states -
When they began their investigation, police first looked to LGBTQ advocacy organizations, who represent a demographic with a learned fear of the police department. Skull-cracking Frank Rizzo, police chief through the 1960s and mayor from 1972 to 1980, “personally led Saturday night roundups of homosexuals.”
Redding claims the motive for the attack was simply robbery, for which he has previously been arrested, so police are currently not calling this a hate crime. I would think that could all change once a motive for the murder is established.
Critically, though, when speaking to the press, the police spokesperson continues to identify Ms Jenkins by the name and pronouns consistent with her life, despite her parents' use of a male pronoun in reference to the victim.
Clark told The Daily Beast that what struck him most about this case was the overwhelming love of Jenkins’s parents for the child they still refer to as “he.” Asked by a reporter at today’s press conference to clarify the appropriate pronoun, given the parents’ preference, Clark said the department had and would continue to use the victim’s gender as she identified it, and “as she was known to many friends.”
It seems possible the Philadelphia Police are making an effort to establish a much-needed trust between them and the LGBT community in general, perhaps the Transgender community in specific. Perhaps they are even beginning to see that respect for trans persons and recognition of their humanity is a good start.
It would be about time - and could serve as a model for police departments nationwide.