Kent Police is committed to tackling hate crime and will be holding a series of events in February to support the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) history month.

LGBT history month is a national annual event which takes place throughout February. It celebrates diversity and the lives and achievements of the LGBT community.

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 Martin Meredith, Kent Police's diversity manager, talks about how the force is reaching out to all members of the community and seeking to make sure hate crime is reported

Preventing hate crime

Kent Police works to ensure that its service is accessible to the whole community. The force treats hate crime seriously and works to encourage hate crime reporting among the LBGT community.

Stonewall’s 2008 report on homophobic hate crime reported that one in five lesbian and gay people in Britain has been a victim of one or more homophobic hate crimes or incidents in the last three years and three in four of these did not report them to the police. These incidents ranged from regular insults on the street to serious physical and sexual assaults.

Support groups seminar

On 10 February, in partnership with Kent County Council, Kent Police is hosting an LGBT joint staff support groups seminar in Medway. This will bring together existing Kent LGBT staff support groups, their employers and other public sector organisations across Kent.

This event will detail the benefits of establishing LGBT staff support groups and joining LGBT organisations, such as the Stonewall Equality Champions Network and participating in their annual Workplace Equality Index.

Coordinating a multi-agency approach 

On February 17, Dr Greg Ussher from the Metro Centre in Greenwich, a charity dediacted to will address public authorities from across Kent on the key findings of Metro’s 2009 report 'Branching Out – Kent and Medway Needs Assessment.'

This report has assessed the needs and experiences of Kent’s LGBT people, and those questioning their sexuality and/or gender. Dr Usher’s address will help public services coordinate a multi-agency approach in order to take forward the report’s key recommendations.

Dealing with homophobic and transphobic crime 

On February 26, Kent Police will be hosting an event for the public at the Kent Police College called Recognising Homophopic and Transphobic Hate Crime and Incidents. 

This event will also bring together Kent public service providers and people from Kent’s LGBT communities to discuss the different approaches to dealing with homophobic and transphobic crime. The event will explore what needs to be done to encourage reporting and to support victims.

'Hate crime is unacceptable'

Martin Meredith, Kent Police’s diversity manager, says: “Hate crime is unacceptable. It does not just take the form of harrassment and verbal threats. Hate crime can be violent. Last October trainee police officer James Parkes was attacked in Liverpool and a lesbian couple in Brighton were also attacked.

'Sadly the violence can be fatal, such as the murders of Gerry Edwards in Bromley last March and Ian Baynham in central London in September.

'Kent Police helped set up the free Kent Homophobic and Transphobic Incident Reporting Line, which is available 24 hours a day and manned by call handlers trained to deal with sensitive incidents.'

Report homophobic and transphobic incidents

The Kent Homophobic and Transphobic Incident Reporting Line, is available 24 hours a day, all year round and call handlers are trained to deal with sensitive incidents.

Incidents can be referred to police if the caller wishes to report a crime. The service is operated by Kent's 13 crime and disorder reduction partnerships.

The public can call the helpline on 0800 328 9162.

Community liaison officers recognised

Kent Police’s community liaison officers have been given awards by Pride in Canterbury in recognition of their support for the organisation which works to raise the visibility and public awareness of the LGBT community.

Pride in Canterbury gave awards to PC Kath Mole, community liaison officer east Kent, PC John Ansell, community liaison officer mid Kent, PC Chris Porter, community liaison officer east Kent, and police staff employee Chris Collins, a diversity training lead at Kent Police College.

The awards were presented at Kent Police headquarters on Monday 1 February by Superintendent Tony Thomas.

Andrew Brettell from Pride in Canterbury said:  'We are delighted to have been able to give awards to these key individuals from Kent Police, for their ongoing work and commitment to issues affecting the LGBT community.'

Posted on: 4 February 2010