News Articles
11 February, 2005
Scottish police force first to unveil gay staff 'audit'
Source: uk.gay.com by Ben Townley
Lothian and Borders Police force have become the first in Scotland to unveil a monitoring system for LGBT employees.
The system, conducted through a survey that will be distributed to all employees in the force, is aiming to help offer better support to LGBT officers and workers, as well as help improve the force's image amongst members of the gay community.
It will be the first time that a police force will ask existing employees about their sexuality in the UK. Currently, 3 forces in England have introduced monitoring for new recruits, but are still thought to be a distance away from full staff monitoring.
Lothian and Borders' Chief Inspector George Denholm said the change illustrates the desire to "reflect the needs of the community we serve".
"We have a diverse workforce who bring different skills, abilities and backgrounds to the job. It's important that we value the diversity of our workforce and make them feel valued," he said today.
"The introduction of monitoring, I hope, sends out that message."
A spokesperson for the force rejected the accusations that the initiative will lead to the introduction of a "Big Brother style of information gathering".
"It is about creating a confident and open workplace environment for all staff, whatever their ethnicity, religious belief, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity or disability," he added.
The project has also been backed by Lothian and Borders' Gay Police Association (GPA) representative Inspector Dennis Hunter, as well as the local police LGBT liaison officer Sergeant Paul Matthews.
"If officers and staff are confident enough to divulge their sexual orientation or gender identity internally, then I hope that confidence will naturally transfer itself to the wider community," Sergeant Matthews said today.
"We have to investigate homophobic and transphobic incidents almost on a daily basis; hopefully the public will feel more secure and confident enough to tell us about these incidents if they are aware that we value our LGBT staff and take these issues seriously".
Inspector Hunter said he was happy that the information collected by the monitoring scheme, which will also include ethnicity, faith or religious belief and if they have a disability, would be used and stored appropriately.
"Any statistics gathered will be anonymous and will be used in such a way that will not inadvertently 'out' people against their wishes," Inspector Hunter said.
"I can't stress enough how important it is for the police to make this leap in support of something the GPA has been fully supportive of for a number of years".
The project marks a significant change in how police forces across the country are engaging with the LGBT community. In recent months, other initiatives launched by forces include schemes to improve reporting techniques, liaison with gay people and the expansion of the GPA.
In an interview with Gay.com late last year, chief inspector George Denholm admitted that the police had a "long way to go", but committed himself to working hard on improving its status amongst the gay community.
He said today that this latest change would be invaluable in the modernisation process.
"We can't honestly say that we reflect society as a whole if we are oblivious to the backgrounds of our own staff," he said.
