Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues in the MPS

Report: 06a
Date: 10 March 2005
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report outlines issues relating to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) recruitment and retention within the MPS, training of police officers on LGBT issues in relation to staff and service delivery, homophobic crime and policing, role and function of LGBT liaison officers, the LGBT Advisory Group to the MPS and same sex domestic violence.

A. Recommendations

That members note and discuss the contents of this report.

B. Supporting information

Issues relating to LGBT recruitment and retention to the MPS

1. A question on sexual orientation is now included in the Equal Opportunities section of the police officer application form, but this information is not yet being stored electronically. Discussions are currently in hand with the Gay Police Association as to how such information should be recorded and retained. There is no date as to when the electronic storage and retention will be in place.

2. The Director of Recruitment chairs a regular consultation meeting with the MPS’ staff support associations, in which the MPS Gay Police Association is included and with which recruitment enjoys a good relationship.

3. Human Resources (HR) Recruitment is also leading a scoping exercise in co-operation with the Home Office and in consultation with the MPA, concerning second languages and knowledge of minority cultures and communities. The latter would include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.

4. As regards retention issues, a six month trial of a pilot exit process covering half of the MPS was managed by Leadership Research and Development Ltd. (LRDL) on behalf of the MPS and concluded in December 2004. An evaluation of this work is currently being conducted by both LRDL and the MPS' Internal Consultancy Group. One of the MPS' intentions in working with LRDL, which has been specifically required to employ a diverse range of staff to conduct exit interviews with MPS leavers, has been to maximise leavers' confidence to speak openly and frankly about their experiences of working for the organisation. Of those leavers surveyed through the pilot exit survey only one person has raised LGBT harassment issues during the course of the exit interview. In the interests of confidentiality and maintaining the individual's anonymity, it is not appropriate to give further details. We are examining whether any learning can be taken from this.

5. No LGBT “harassment issues” have been raised through the MPS Fairness at Work procedure since the introduction of the 2003 Employment Equality [Sexual Orientation] Regulations.

6. The Gay Police Association have a large membership within the MPS but they do not as a matter of policy disclose any information including ‘anonymised’ information.

Training of Police Officers on LGBT issues in relation to staff and service delivery.

7. The Development Organisation Improvement Team (DOIT) have developed, in collaboration with Dramanon, an external training provider, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Independent Advisory Group, the Gay Police Association, the Diversity Learning and Development Branch and Internal Consultancy Group a seminar for key managers on the issues facing LGBT staff working in the MPS. The first seminar was held on the 28 November 2003, and was attended by 80 key managers (Superintendent, Chief Inspector, Inspector, Sergeants and equivalent police staff grades). An additional event was held on 29 March 2004 when 40 managers attended.

The event had the following objectives:

• Provide a working knowledge of the Sexual Orientation Equalities Regulations.
• Challenging stereotypical attitudes about LGBT life experiences.
• Provide greater understanding of the issues facing LGBT staff in relation to coming out and enable managers to confidently provide support to staff who are considering this decision.
• Provide greater understanding of the issues affecting LGBT staff that are unable to discuss openly their family and social life with colleagues.
• Provide awareness on the need to be sensitive to the possibility of inadvertently outing people either to colleagues, or their friends and family.
• Highlight the need to avoid making assumptions about people’s sexual orientation.
• Provide a practical demonstration of the MPS’s commitment to support its LGBT staff.

8. The seminars comprised a presentation outlining the main provisions of the Sexual Orientation Equalities Regulations. This was then followed by two dramatic presentations by Dramanon of homophobic behaviour that had been developed in association with the Gay Police Association that were based on real life cases. Following the presentations there were a facilitated discussions in groups of between 12 and 20 people depending on the event. Finally, Dramanon presented between 2-4 “talking heads” that involved actors talking in character about issues affecting LGBT staff in the MPS. Again there was a facilitated discussion to talk through the issues raised by each of the characters.

9. Evaluation of the event demonstrated that 60% of respondents found the event to be excellent, while 20% of respondents found the event to be a good in meeting its stated objectives.

10. DOIT will be delivering additional seminars in February and March 2005.

11. On 24 November 2004, the national strategy for improving police performance in race and diversity (which includes the police race and diversity learning requirement) was published by the Home Office.

12. The race and diversity learning requirement element of the strategy, will apply to all ranks and roles, including strategic and operational leadership, all operational roles, initial training, all police staff roles, Human Resources, Training, Personnel and the responsibilities of the extended police family. The requirement also sets down clear guidance on the design, delivery, assessment and evaluation of diversity training and development.

13. The requirement is that all police personnel consistently perform in a way that respects difference and challenges discrimination, particularly in the six identified key areas of diversity-race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, religion and beliefs – against an agreed set standards.

14. The Home Office will be issuing guidance to forces on the implementation of the national strategy during 2005. This will include guidance on training and development solutions across the six main strands of diversity informed by a performance needs analysis (PNAs) programme. The MPS has the national lead on two of the PNAs; one on gender issues, the other on LGBT issues.

15. The PNAs will inform the national race and diversity learning requirement resources to be produced by Centrex, around these two key areas of diversity (with the focus on employment and service delivery issues), for use by the police service of England and Wales.

Strand 1 of the race and diversity national learning requirement looks at the generic race and diversity needs for the police service. Strand 2 addresses the contextual race and diversity learning and development needs of the individual. For this strand the generic curriculum needs to be embedded in an understanding of the context of the individual’s work environment. These are race and diversity learning and development needs identified, which are specific to:

• rank/grade,
• role,
• environment, and
• area.

For example, an officer in Lambeth Borough, may require different race and diversity learning and development interventions, to that required by an officer in Havering Borough. Within this contextual second strand, there is the opportunity to identify the “critical encounters” an individual has in their role, and create the appropriate race and diversity learning and development interventions. A critical encounter can be described as:

“Those individual encounters where the way the police manage the interaction internally or externally (at individual, team and organisational levels), is likely to have an impact upon the trust and confidence of the wider community, especially minority groups (visible and non-visible) and other under-represented groups.”

Critical encounters can be identified through personal reflection and / or PDR, and at a team and organisational level, through performance indicators / intelligence.

16. Both pieces of work are being co-ordinated by the Diversity Training Branch and quality assured by the Directorate of Training and Development’s Training Standards Unit.

17. The PNA on LGBT issues commenced in October 2004 and a reference group with representation from the MPS LGBTAG and the Gay Police Association has been established in consultation with MPS Training Standards Unit.

18. The reference group includes representatives from GALOP and individuals working with ethnic minority LGBT communities and faith groups, individuals working with age groups and representatives from the Transgender community. The reference group will have responsibility for liaising with other LGBT organisations, both in the MPS area and nationally. Information will be collated from desktop research, structured interviews, focus groups and questionnaires from February to May 2005. A final report will be presented to CENTREX at the end of May 2005 and national guidelines for LGBT learning and development will be provided to forces in July.

Homophobic Crime and Policing

19. The responsibility for developing external relationships with the LGBT community at a pan London level rests with the Diversity Directorate’s Strategic Relationships Team. Community engagement at a Borough level is the responsibility of the Borough Commander and is managed within the framework of the local Crime and Disorder Strategy.

20. At a central level the focus of the Sexual Orientation Project is to address the issue of under reporting of homophobic incidents and crime. The current lack of both crime reports and intelligence information prevents the identification, targeting, arrest and prosecution of homophobic offenders. This is recognised at a strategic level as an intelligence requirement within the Territorial Policing National Policing Model Strategic Assessment.

21. The approach has been to identify the barriers that exist within the LGBT community that prevent the reporting of homophobic incidents and crime. These have been identified through our contact with groups such as the LGBT Advisory Group to the MPS and other LGBT groups with whom we have developed relationships such as GALOP, Polari, Consortium of LGBT Voluntary Organisations and the Terrence Higgins Trust. This has been supported by social research work undertaken by the Understanding and Responding to Hate Crime Team and external research and surveys such as the Sigma Research Vital Statistics Survey and the Greenwich and Bexley survey of the LGBT community within those Boroughs. The results, mirrored by other surveys across the UK, indicate that victims and witnesses to homophobic incidents and crime do not report because:

• There will be a lack of an effective response from the police.
• There is a lack of trust in the police.
• The police response will be unsympathetic.

22. More specifically in relation to the police investigation of gay murders, a predominant view within the community is that the police do not investigate a gay murder with the same rigour and to the same standard as other murders. The common reason sited was that the police were content with the fact that a gay murder meant there was one less gay or lesbian on the street. This perception was a feature of several articles within the gay media.

23. Barriers have also been identified with the lack of reporting and information regarding offences that occur within known Public Sex Environments (PSEs). The barriers are complex, however, there is a fear from victims that the police will take action against them for engaging in consensual sex in a public place, and in the case of those for whom discretion is required, such as married men, there is a fear of being ‘outed’. This is a particular concern to the MPS as anecdotally and through Third Party reporting we know that there are serious offences committed within PSE’s that go unreported.

24. Finally, there is the wider social context in which we police which has an effect on the LGBT community’s response to crime. The LGBT community have identified that there is a pervading sense of homophobia that exists within society through newspaper articles, web sites, and homophobic song lyrics. This contributes to a perceived hierarchy of diversity within society, which again is reflected in an inequity in legislation – whilst legislation exists to respond to racially motivated offences no such legislation exists for homophobic offences. Whilst you commit an offence by chanting racist epithets at a football match, no similar sanction exists for supporters singing grossly offensive homophobic chants. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 gives provision for homophobia to be taken into account when sentencing, but no primary legislation exists to challenge homophobia.The recognition of these inequities is important for us as a police service as some victims of LGBT crime take the view that if society has little interest or support for the LGBT community why should the police. Similarly, whilst the police work with organisations to tackle homophobic bullying in schools, it is difficult to persuade a teenage bully that homophobia is wrong when at home such homophobia is evident in the public media.

25. To mitigate or remove these barriers to reporting the MPS has adopted a thematic approach. The first is based on overt recognition of the LGBT community and our commitment to ensuring their equity in accessing the policing services we offer. Examples of this are:

• Sponsorship in 2004 of the Bingham Cup [international gay rugby tournament], Pride London and Soho Pride.
• Presentations to a variety of LGBT community groups and events such as the Enfield LGBT Network, The Clare Project [transgender], Westminster LGBT Forum, Unison LGBT Group, Conservative Gay Group and others. The speakers have been from across the ranks from Deputy Assistant Commissioner level to Constable.
• In 2005 the MPS will be sponsoring Pride London and the Kings Cross Steelers Gay Rugby Club.
• Support for the Gay Police Association marching in Pride Events in uniform.

26. The sponsorship of sporting events is recognition by the MPS that not all members of the LGBT community will visit gay entertainment venues and consequently additional engagement opportunities need to be explored. The sponsorship of the Kings Cross Steelers will support bursaries for three LGBT players and allow for the promotion of an anti homophobia message throughout sport and through a series of events and high profile matches to deliver key messages to the LGBT community attending the events.

27. The Gay Police Association now has a standing authority from the Commissioner to march in uniform at Pride marches in London, Brighton and Manchester. This gives an important message that the police not only police the LGBT community but are part of it. In 2005 with financial sponsorship from the MPS, the Gay Police Association will be hosting the European Gay Police Conference to coincide with London Pride. This year will see uniformed officers from across Europe participating in the Pride Parade.

28. At borough level there are a variety of engagement initiatives developed by LGBT Liaison Officer’s. Examples are HarinGay that was launched in that borough in 2004 and runs ‘drop ins’ where community members can meet with the liaison officer. Aurora is a forum established in Croydon that meets with the local police regularly.

29. Key to sponsorship of these events is the delivery of key messages and pan London engagement promotes the theme of the need to report homophobic incidents and crime. This message has been adopted as the overall theme for London Pride 2005.

30. With regards to PSE’s the Diversity Directorate in late 2003 identified a prolific and violent homophobic offender who had been operating on Hampstead Heath for the previous two years. A pro-active operation in partnership with Camden Borough led to his arrest in February 2004 and his subsequent conviction and imprisonment for seven years. As a result, in partnership with Lambeth Borough and Royal Parks Command Unit, the MPS launched Operation Michigan in autumn 2004 with the objective of gathering direct intelligence from users of PSE’s. In partnership with Terrence Higgins Trust, outreach workers plain clothed officers visited PSE’s during the early hours and spoke to users. The intelligence gained at Lambeth led to the identification of a homophobic offender operating across two Boroughs who along with two others was subsequently arrested, and during the operation in Hyde Park a man was arrested for theft from a user of the PSE. A dedicated homophobic crime analyst and researcher now based within Territorial Policing support these operations. It is intended to repeat these operations from Spring 2005.

31. Lack of confidence in murder enquiries has involved a detailed thematic review of six murder cases by the Specialist Crime Directorate Murder Review Team. This piece of work was initiated by the LGBT Advisory Group who identified the six murder cases and the themes for the review. The review took five months to complete and a report has been prepared for the Advisory Group who will be publishing their own report for the LGBT community. The thematic review has already identified some additional recommendations for investigating gay murder. These will be reviewed by the MPS Homophobic Murder Gold Group on which the Advisory Group is represented.

Third party reporting

32. In order to assist victims and witnesses of crime the MPS has developed third party reporting. Two methodologies are employed – assisted reporting through our partnership with GALOP and self reporting which in 2005 will be developed through the national True Vision project currently used by 23 police forces across the UK. The MPS has been working with True Vision to develop online reporting using the secure Police National Network. This will allow victims and witnesses of crime to report hate crime online, and it is expected to provide direct reporting links to large gay domains such as www.gaydar.co.uk and www.gay.com. This is additional to the current online reporting facility offered via the True Vision website.

33. True Vision will complement other LGBT Third Party Reporting schemes developed locally such as the Westminster Tell a Friend scheme, Lambeth LGBT Forum’s Third Party Reporting scheme.

Homophobia within the public media

34. The issue of homophobia within the public media has been progressed by the MPS at a national level through the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) LGBT Portfolio Group. Following a proposal by the MPS in January 2004, the MPS compiled a 78-page submission to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), giving examples of homophobia within the public media, which had resulted in complaints to the police. The submission included newspaper articles, websites, and song lyrics. The submission is still under review by the CPS but the intention is to obtain a definitive view as to whether such examples breach current UK legislation. Following that advice, ACPO will issue guidance to all forces and to the LGBT community. In the interim the MPS have been in discussion with interested MP’s so that any lack of legislation can be reviewed by parliamentarians and the LGBT community signposted to them accordingly.

35. In addition, the MPS has been facilitating meetings between the Stop Murder Music Coalition and the record industry. The meetings have also involved Advisory Group and MPA representation. This month a resolution was reached between the two parties that has led to a suspension of the campaign.

Other work with specific sections of the LGBT community

36. Work is also being developed with LGBT young people through Westminster City Council’s LGBT support worker and the Consortium. Key to this is involving young people in MPS decision making and specifically bringing LGBT representation onto the Met Youth Advisory Group [MYAG]. To this end MYAG is financially sponsoring the Terrence Higgins Trust ‘Moving on Up Conference 2005’ for LGBT youth. Both MYAG and the MPS will be present on the day to engage with young LGBT people.

37. To consult with older LGBT people, the MPS have proposed to Polari [an LGBT voluntary organisation for older LGBT members] that they facilitate a seminar on crime and policing. It is hoped to stage this in 2005.

38. The transgender community is consulted mainly through the LGBT Advisory Group but the MPS engages with them at a national level through the National Advisory Group [an LGBT community organisation] and the ACPO LGBT Portfolio Group. Following a joint proposal from the MPS and South Yorkshire Police a national consultation programme with the Trans Community is being developed nationally.

39. In addition to the above there have been successful local initiatives developed by LGBT liaison officers. In Lambeth a successful drugs awareness initiative in gay club venues was developed between the liaison officer and Terrence Higgins Trust aimed at reducing drugs use in the community. In Haringey a partnership initiative between the LGBT organisation Schools Out and the local liaison officer led to a one day conference in June 2004 focusing on homophobic bullying in schools. The event was attended by head teachers and education professionals from across the Borough.

40. In terms of reporting, there has been an 18% rise in the number of homophobic crimes reported for the 12 month period up until the end of January 2005, (1411 compared to 1194 for the same period to January 2004). A search on intelligence reports indicate a 41% rise in reports for the same period (3175 compared to 4473).

Role and function of LGBT Liaison Officers

41. Our response to the issues at 3 above is managed at a pan London level within DCC4’s Strategic Relationships Team and at Borough level by locally appointed LGBT liaison officers. At the date of this report there are 132 LGBT liaison officers appointed across 31 Borough’s, the exception being Barnet where there is a vacancy waiting to be filled.

42. The decision as to how an LGBT Liaison Officers is selected, their training and job description rests with the Borough Commander. The Diversity Directorate’s role is to support that process principally with advice and good practice; key strands to this advice are as follows:

• Provision of generic business case for LGBT liaison officers.
• Provision of generic recruitment packs and draft role descriptions for LGBT liaison officers.
• Co-ordinating details of LGBT liaison officers MPS wide.
• Managing communication between LGBT liaison officers through the Special Interest Talk Group available via the MPS intranet.

43. The Diversity Directorate also provide networking opportunities to LGBT liaison officers through:

• A bi annual LGBT liaison officer conference.
• The introduction this year of regional LGBT liaison officer meetings.
• An annual LGBT Awareness Day. At the 2004 event 29 LGBT voluntary organisations set up stalls for the day at New Scotland Yard and LGBT liaison officers or any other interested police staff were invited to attend. Over 200 police officers and staff attended on the day and 32 attendees subsequently became LGBT liaison officers at Borough level.

44. As the LGBT liaison officer role is managed locally, it varies across the MPS. There is one full time LGBT liaison officer on Haringey Borough whilst others such as Westminster have a team of 18 part time LGBT liaison officers. The emphasis is on developing the team to meet the needs of the local LGBT community. Similarly with training – this is a local responsibility and the training input varies, Wandsworth for example recently had a two day training course for prospective liaison officers which was locally developed and managed. The most important issue is ensuring that LGBT Liaison Officers have the necessary time to fulfil their role, where problems of this nature are identified then the Diversity Directorate would make representations to the Borough. However, the re-structured Diversity Directorate is developing a framework for monitoring diversity and service delivery at local level, with the introduction of Borough teams to provide greater support.

45. The LGBT liaison officer role has proved essential in providing a point of contact for the community at Borough level, and for supporting specific investigations such as serious crime investigations. They are viewed by the LGBT Advisory Group to the MPS as the key link to local LGBT communities. To this end the LGBT Advisory Group made an application to both the MPS and the Home Office for matched funding for a dedicated project worker, whose role it is to identify local LGBT forums and groups across the 32 Borough’s. A key part of this role will be advising local communities about the role of the LGBT liaison officer and how to contact them.

LGBT Advisory Group to the MPS

46. The LGBT Advisory Group (AG) to the MPS has as its objective ‘Better Policing for the LGBT community in London’ as they have been badly policed in the past and reluctant to access policing services. The Advisory Group will do this by questioning and challenging the police. The LGBT AG is the only such advisory group within the MPS. Boroughs are required to have an Advisory Group and the Quality Standards require that every Borough advisory group have LGBT representation.

47. The LGBT Advisory Group is completely independent and members are selected independently of the police via a selection panel. The MPS are advised when new members are recruited.

48. The LGBT AG has a full conference meeting [all advisors] every six weeks. There are then the following sub groups that again meet six- weekly and deal with specific issues:

• Community Representation Sub Group – deals with the group’s external relationships and involvement in Pride and other events.
• Consistency of Service Sub Group – scrutinises the role of CSU’s and LGBT liaison officers and other areas of service delivery.
• Critical Incidents Sub Group – oversees involvement in critical incidents and the process of notification.
• Murder Review Group – a sub group of this sub group developed the review initiative mentioned above.
• Transgender Sub Group – deals with all transgender issues. It has drafted the MPS guidance for police in how to deal with members of the Trans Community and is planning a Transgender Conference for London in summer 2005.
• Chairs Forum – a meeting of the chairs of the above group to progress issues to the main conference meeting.

49. The MPS are invited to have representatives at all meetings, and will manage and progress issues raised or present proposed policies or initiatives for advice. This has included presentations from the C3i Project Team, Operation Sapphire, Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) Training, Homicide, and Professional Standards amongst others. The group will give advice during these presentations.

50. The group also give specific advice by attendance at MPS training such as the Firearms Critical Incident Training for Senior Officers, the current PNA project, training at Hendon, Safeguarding Children Directorate Advisory Group and others.

51. With regards to critical incidents, the decision to seek advice rests solely with the senior investigating officer in each case. Requests are passed directly to the Co-Chairs of the relevant Advisory Group who then appoint an advisor. The advisors are not selected by the MPS. A comprehensive system for monitoring critical incidents is being developed by the Diversity Directorates Critical Incident Team to ensure greater consistency of approach across the 32 boroughs.

52. The LGBT Advisory Group are only one group with whom the MPS regularly consult. Others are mentioned elsewhere in this report.

Same Sex Domestic Violence

53. The police response to domestic violence has been subject of intense development over the past few years. The issue of same sex domestic violence has been explored principally through the MPS partnership with Broken Rainbow [an LGBT voluntary organisation] and some key work by the MPS in supporting the creation of safe havens for victims of same sex domestic violence.

54. The information and intelligence available within this area is sparse but the MPS has recently developed an assisted reporting procedure in partnership with Broken Rainbow to address this problem.

55. The Understanding and Responding to Hate Crime Team are intending to research this area more thoroughly however, it is accepted that there is more work to be done.

C. Race and equality impact

It is essential that the MPS ensure that its policing services are accessible to all those who live in, work and visit London regardless of age, gender, disability, faith, race and sexual orientation. By recognising and responding to the needs of diverse communities and by reflecting this diversity in the people we employ, we can work to mitigate and remove the barriers that prevent equal access to the services and employment opportunities we offer.

D. Financial implications

There are no financial implications arising directly from this report. All activities described in the report are contained within existing budgets. Where any additional expenditure is required, separate reports will be submitted as necessary.

E. Background papers

• Sexual Orientation Project Plan [2004 ongoing]

F. Contact details

Report authors:

Section B 1-6

Avril Cooper, MPS Head of HR Planning and Performance Unit

Section B 7-18

Shaun Kennedy, MPS Diversity Training and Support Unit

Sections B 19-55

Carl Wonfor, Strategic Relationships Team, MPS Diversity Directorate

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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