News
2006-04-07
London cops asked
to "out" themselves
The honesty
campaign is part of an effort to recruit more gay and
lesbian officers.
Hoping to recruit
Hoping to recruit
more gay and lesbian officers, London police are asking
current gay cops to "out" themselves to officials.
The Metropolitan
Police are hoping more gay and lesbian officers can
be recruited once there is an accurate number of gays
already on the force. The police want to see if the
number of gay officers is representative of the
wider population.
The outing is
part of a report titled "Monitoring for Equality" and
states, "Data on sexual orientation is not currently held on
Met Human Resources, and therefore no meaningful
analysis can be undertaken. To address this, a
self-service facility will be available on MetHR in
July which will enable staff to self-disclose their sexual
orientation. This field will be blocked to ensure that
no line managers or HR staff have access to this
information."
Gay Police
Association coordinator Vic Codling welcomed the news but
said it comes a little late.
"[The Association
of Chief Police Officers and the GPA] concluded that
if the force excluded the opportunity for gay people to
identify themselves then it was institutionally
homophobic," Codling told UK News. "The [London
police] refused in 2004, and the pilot went ahead
without them in Leicestershire, Lancashire, and
Bedfordshire."
Codling said the
pilot was helpful in showing tolerance and encouraging
new recruits.
"An inclusive
monitoring system allows the individual to identify
themselves as they may wish to do," Codling said to UK News.
"Long gone are the days when gay people were in the closet.
If gay people are OK about themselves, everyone else
should be."
Some asked if the
new program would lead to quotas.
"A move to
recognize that some staff are gay and lesbian is a
positive thing," U.K. gay rights group Stonewall told UK
News. "Why not monitor this too? As long as it remains
voluntary, it is a good thing. As for it leading to
quotas, I think it is fair enough for the force to
reflect the diversity of the people serving on it." (The
Advocate)
Click here to follow The Advocate on Twitter.
Page 1 of 1