Hampshire Constabulary’s support service for LGBT+ communities has been renamed as it marks its 25th anniversary.
The LAGLO team will now be known as LGBT+ Link Officers to better reflect the work they do with victims of all gender identities and sexual orientations.
Founded in 1996, the service was one of the first of its kind in the country and the role has largely remained unchanged.
Police officers and staff who volunteer to join the scheme undergo additional training around LGBT+ issues and their role is to build trust, confidence and engagement with the police in these communities.
The force currently has around 90 LGBT+ Link Officers, many of whom are themselves part of the LGBT+ communities or who consider themselves allies. The work they carry out ranges from supporting victims and witnesses of crimes and incidents involving the LGBT+ communities to advising colleagues and promoting an understanding within force of LGBT+ issues.
Community engagement work by LGBT+ Link Officers sees them representing Hampshire Constabulary at pride events across both counties, with the specially designed police car being a regular fixture in previous years.
Acting Chief Inspector Scott Johnson is co-chair of the LGBT+ Resource Group. He has said:
“As one of the very first British police forces to have a LGBT+ liaison scheme, this event will mark 25 years of this work and how it has evolved, both in terms of the service delivered to communities and how our organisation has changed to support our LGBT+ colleagues. It is also a time to reflect on current and future challenges and how we work with partners to meet the needs of future LGBT+ communities and ensure they have trust and confidence in the police.”
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The renaming announcement and 25th-anniversary celebrations – delayed from last year due to the pandemic – coincide with the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) today (17th May). The date marking IDAHOBIT was originally selected to commemorate the decision to remove homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases from the World Health Organisation on 17th May 1990.
One of the key roles of the LGBT+ Link Officers is to encourage the reporting of homophobic, biphobic and transphobic hate crimes along with domestic abuse and sexual violence.
Examples of hate crime include:
- Physical attacks, such as physical assault, damage to property, offensive graffiti and arson
- Threat of attack, such as inciting hatred by words, pictures or videos, offensive letters, abusive or obscene telephone calls, groups hanging around to intimidate, and unfounded malicious complaints
- Verbal or online abuse, insults or harassment, such as taunting, offensive leaflets and posters, abusive gestures, dumping of rubbish outside homes or through letterboxes, and bullying at school or in the workplace.
To find out more visit https://www.hampshire.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/hco/hate-crime/.
IMO it is morally wrong to have officers training to provide additional support and protection for one part of our community.
Everyone should receive the same protection and care, otherwise it only adds to what many protest about of ‘not’ being treated the same as all others.
Again cake and eat it too springs to mind.
Additional support ought to come from charity IF needed not from the much needed inadequate pot for policing
“IMO it is morally wrong to have officers training to provide additional support and protection for one part of our community.”
but is it not morally wrong for them to offer less support and protection for one part of our community,… which without this team, and their additional training, they would be doing?
no they wouldn’t – they would be providing equal support to the human beings that live in this county – irrespective of personal situations, circumstances, choices or designations. At present they are giving special treatment to this group, but not to the gender content heterosexuals.
Honestly, this site is a sewer of nasty people. The two here (Strong and Wighter) are against anything not straight, white, hetero and able bodied and have posted nasty comments about anything from people being rescued by the RNLI to disabled kids being in mainstream schools. No surprise that those two are homophobes as well.
Well said. The comments on this site accurately represent the majority of islanders.
Culture and education dosnt come as standard here
Rubbish.
Police officers and staff who volunteer to join the scheme undergo additional training around LGBT+ issues
…
and why are heterosexual, gender content people excluded from this police function ? – The police are supposed to be there for all – are you telling me that these officers would not assist a gender content heterosexual in need?
This apparent inclusion is hypocritical as it excludes the majority of society -that being gender content heterosexuals. LGBT cannot demand equality whilst practising inequality by excluding gender content heterosexuals from their groups
I trust that LGBT officers undergo additional training around gender content, heterosexual issues – after all, why should the gender content, heterosexuals be expected to learn about LGBT if they won’t learn about gender content heterosexuals.
Is “Gender Content” the new buzz-word??
This ‘inclusion’ seems to cost the majority ‘exclusion ‘
Thought this article would bring the Gammons and Karens out of the woodwork.
Not disappointed.
We are all equal, only some are more equal than others.
And stop using hate speech, only it isn’t because its directed towards straight white people? There in lyes the problem.
“You sir are under arrest…..”
“But why?”
“For wearing those shoes with that hoodie”
I just wonder how much tax money was used on the paint job on the car. A great use of public funds, which I’m sure will go a long way in detecting and preventing crime!
You would of thought they would of used a more gender fluid car wouldn’t you? Maybe an Audi
Oh for Gods sake. Can we please see the special ‘Straight White Man’ car and be told how many officers have had taxpayers money spent on them to fulfill that particular unit? No? Thought so.
absolutely outrageous.
A special unit for LGBT+ but they don’t want to be treated any differently lol. go figure? are they not just people like anyone else?
And just HOW MUCH has this ‘re-branding’ cost?
The Police are always claiming they are short of funds, bust isn’t it strange how money for this type of thing can always be found.
Police should treat EVERYONE equally (maybe excluding the ‘scum’ caught red-handed perpetrating actual REAL crimes).
By the way, does anyone know a Hobbit named Ida?!
that car looks more like the fashion police!
And just out of interest when you ring the police now do you now have to specify if you’re LGBT+ or not so they send the right unit out?
Nice too see all the homophones posting their hate here disguised as a concern for equality.
They try to say that this is somehow excluding them from protections. It is not. That is a falsehood and a false equivalence. It is a logical fallacy to state that because there is a unit focused on ensuring that a minority is respected and protected that people who are not of that minority are at a disadvantage. Your equivalence is drawn on flawed and false reasoning.
fred….that is utter drivel
the entire police force is a unit that should be focused on ensuring that the entire UK population is respected and protected regardless of who they are. The very fact that they are creating divisions within their own force, by giving special attention to one group, whilst not providing the same level of attention to all, is discriminatory in nature and only serves to segregate those who are not gender content heterosexuals despite all efforts to be inclusive.
true inclusion is a police force that does not have gender focus policing and only has human focus policing
what’s a homophone?
HOW MANY POLICE HAVE DEAF AWEARNESS TRAINING,WE ARE LEFT BEHIND AGAIN.
I do hope they’re not going to drive around in that.
If someone engages in acts contrary to the law, then we already have a group of people employed by the state to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice, they are called ‘the police’, do we now have different officers in different cars (by the looks of things decorated by children) to deal with each individual type of crime, committed against different groups of people? Surely this in itself is divisive and counter productive to a fair and equal society.
If there is in fact a requirement for officers solely dedicated to the well-being of the lgbt community then would their time and resources not be better spent in Nigeria?