A new video from the Department of Justice Community Relations Service, paid for with your tax dollars, teaches law enforcement how to deal with transgender people.

The 12-minute instructional video tells police officers to avoid stereotypes and “keep their questions relevant.”

“I don’t have to be in the room to know what just happened. Someone snickered, laughed or made, a joke,” Sgt. Brett Parson said at the start of the video. “Trust me, I know, I’m a cop too. As police officers, we use humor to deal with things that make us feel uncomfortable or afraid. … To outsiders, it’s perceived as unprofessional and disrespectful.”

The video tells officers when first approaching a transgender person to ask, "Do you prefer sir or ma'am?'

In one scenario enacted in the video, a transgender person calls the police to report an assault. A male police officer asks to see the victim's ID and refers to the person by the wrong pronoun.

“In one of the examples, the video demonstrates an officer laughing [at] a transgender individual who appears to be the victim of a crime, and the officer’s partner pulls him aside to correct his behavior,” Parson instructs.

The officer in the scene then apologizes to the transgender person.

“This illustration not only highlights how officers should act with members of the transgender community, but also addresses the need for officers to say something to their peers when they see problematic behavior,” Parson said.

You tax dollars also teach the police that: “Transgender people are just trying to be their true selves and live their lives as members of our communities just like anyone else,” he said. “As law enforcement officers, we must make every effort to collaborate and learn from the transgender community, so we can better serve others today and in the future.”