Back on March 29, the Philadelphia DA's Office announced that it would introduce an LGBTQ+ Advisory Board to increase safety measures for members of Philadelphia's LGBTQ+ community. 

A little less than a month into its existence, the Philly DA's Office is once again taking a step forward in defense of the city's LGBTQ+ community by tracking crimes against LGBTQ+ individuals in real time. 

First reported by Billy Penn's Michaela Winberg, the objective of the new tracking technology is to help offer affirming resources to victims, and expand the understanding of transmisogyny and homophobia, and how both result in violence towards vulnerable individuals.

Kelly Burkhardt, the LGBTQ Liaison for the DA's Office, told Billy Penn that long-term goal is also to eventually put more resources towards combating incidents of LGBTQ+ hate in Philadelphia.

"Ultimately that's what is needed because that's what's going to help all of us heal," she said to Billy Penn.

Over the last seven years, that violence has been a reality for Black transgender women in the city. In that time, there has been a total of seven Black transgender women murdered in Philadelphia. Yet, Pennsylvania’s hate crime statute does not include protections for LGBTQ people. 

At the DA's press conference on March 29, Kendall Stephens, a local trans advocate, spoke about her efforts urging lawmakers to make the necessary change to the state’s hate crime statute since being violently attacked inside her South Philadelphia home in August 2020.   

“As a concerned citizen, a hate crime survivor, and a productive, contributing member of this community, I am very terrified of the violence in our city that has run amok,” she said. 

She was also joined by Deja Lynn Alvarez, chair of the Philadelphia Police Department’s LGBTQ Liaison Committee, who said that no person should ever be attacked solely due to their gender identity or expression. 

“I live my life just like everybody else. I should be afforded the same that everyone else is afforded — the right to live and the pursuit of happiness. Isn’t that supposed to be our inalienable right? Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?” said Alvarez.

For the new DA tracking tech, Burkhardt and her team identified approximately 50 keywords related to LGBTQ life in Philly. If the words appear in a Philadelphia police report, they also automatically appear in a spreadsheet maintained by the DA's office.

The entries are then verified by Burkhardt's team before further outreach occurs. 

While not foolproof, she told Billy Penn that it was much better than the previous method of identifying crimes against LGBTQ+ individuals, which Burkhardt compared to a game of "whisper down the lane."  

With the new tech, the DA's office said it has successfully identified 14 crimes against LGBTQ+ people while also incorrectly identifying 12 cases.