NYPD’s First Trans Detective Emphasizes Visibility
Police veteran discusses promotion and his work inside the department
BY MATT TRACY
Oriade Harbor has avoided
clinging to a single
identity. While he describes
himself as a
spiritual leader and an educator,
he’s also a law enforcement offi cer
— and now he’s the fi rst out trans
detective in the NYPD.
“It wasn’t something I was
thinking about,” Harbor, who was
promoted last month, told Gay City
News in a phone interview. “I was
like, ‘that’s pretty signifi cant,’ and
I just think about those transgender
trailblazers we know throughout
history — Black trans people
— and I’m just honored. I’m paying
homage to the trans trailblazers
who came before me.”
Harbor has seen his fair share of
change over the course of an eventful
15-year career in the NYPD. He
started off as a street cop in Brooklyn
and then in Queens, where he
was tasked with taking on more
than he ever anticipated. One day
he would fi nd himself serving as a
counselor; on another occasion he
would be acting as a nurse.
He moved on to work in domestic
violence, which brought him to witness
“some of the worst things,” including
situations in which victimized
individuals were trapped in
unhealthy environments because
they lacked the tools or resources
to escape.
“But it was also good in that
I was able to see the people who
were able to get out and help and
advocate,” Harbor said.
A product of the Midwest, Harbor
was born and raised in Detroit and
completed his undergraduate education
at Miami University in Ohio.
He then took off for New York City,
where he attended graduate school
and eventually decided to take the
police exam in 2006 to kick off his
law enforcement career.
Harbor worked his way up
through the ranks of the police
force while simultaneously building
on the education he already obtained.
He received a scholarship
through the NYPD and earned his
second master’s degree. He also
Oriade Harbor, pictured here as he was promoted in December, is the fi rst out trans detective in the NYPD.
joined the NYPD’s boxing team,
which brought him to competitions
across the country and around the
world.
While Harbor is the fi rst out
trans detective in the NYPD, he
has been working as an out trans
police offi cer for years. He said he
transitioned after he was already
employed by the NYPD, and although
he feels he has been received
well by his colleagues, it was
a more diffi cult experience earlier
on.
“When I fi rst joined and later
when I started my transition, the
NYPD didn’t have a policy, so I
stumbled my way through my transition
in terms of changing everything
over with the department,”
Harbor explained. “Even when I
was getting the runaround, all the
people during that process were
defi nitely very open, trying to help
me fi gure things out.”
Harbor, who works under the
department’s deputy commissioner
of strategic initiatives, has
played an ongoing role in changing
those policies. He spearheads a
training effort to equip members of
the NYPD with important knowledge
about trans inclusion as part
of a collaborative effort with Ana
Arboleda, who stepped in as the
DONNA ACETO
NYPD’s LGBTQ liaison following
the retirement of her predecessor,
Carl Locke, last year.
Through his training work, Harbor
has found that members of the
NYPD have a clearer understanding
of gay, lesbian, and bisexual
individuals than transgender and
non-binary folks — and that’s
where his training comes in.
“I think it’s an opportunity to
teach as well as learn at the same
time,” Harbor said.
Harbor views his police work as
just one part of his multi-layered
identity, which also includes spiritual
and artistic components in
addition to living his life as an out
POLICE
trans man and a Black man.
He acknowledged that his police
work doesn’t always “mesh well”
with other parts of his identity, and
that was on his mind in the wake
of the 2020 protests against nationwide
racism and police brutality.
The following year, uniformed
police offi cers were banned from
participating in Heritage of Pride’s
annual NYC Pride March through
at least 2025.
“That was a diffi cult and challenging
time, and for me, it was
like double: It was not being able to
work in one identity as a trans person,”
he said. “It’s not my only identity,
but it’s an important part of my
identity. When it comes to policing
in the LGBTQ community, there
is this history of injustice and discrimination,
so I stand at the cusp
of all these worlds… It’s a unique
experience because I am able to
understand because I do walk in
Black and blue and trans.”
Harbor is moving into the next
stage of his career with even loftier
goals than before — he hopes
to work towards a potential promotion
to sergeant — but in the
meantime, he hopes to serve as an
example of representation.
“You have a lot of trans people
who, for different reasons, choose
to be stealth and not disclose their
trans experience, which they have
every right to do,” Harbor said. “For
me, choosing to be out… I think
that’s what visibility is about —
that we are people outside of our
trans experience.”
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