Police unveil LGBT community DVD
A Scottish police force has produced a DVD to support the LGBT community.
Entitled Work with us to support our LGBT community, it aims to increase awareness of remote reporting and promote Lothian and Borders police’s diversity work.
The impetus for the DVD, which will be launched this evening, came as a result of a study carried out by Queen Margaret College University.
Two of the top five suggestions from the results stated that the LGBT community were not aware of the diversity work carried out by Lothian and Borders police or of schemes such as remote reporting.
Over the past year Lothian and Borders police, who serve a quarter of Scotland’s population, have generated a number of new initiatives to communicate with the LGBT community including an increased presence at Pride Scotia Festival, a web page on Gaydar, monthly LGBT surgeries at the LGBT Centre for Health and Well-being and a monthly magazine column in Village Voices.
The DVD explains how the remote reporting scheme works and describes how the police and other agencies can help if a member of the LGBT community is a victim of a hate crime.
Chief Superintendent Colin Campbell of Lothian and Borders Police, said:
“I think it is an excellent product which outlines a number of issues concerning our LGBT community and tells everyone about the great amount of work being undertaken by the police in this area.
“Under-reporting of crime is a major concern for the police in general.
“Remote reporting helps to address some of the problems faced by the wide communities we serve, offering a safe and alternative method for reporting hate crimes.
“Lothian and Borders police is constantly looking at ways to engage and communicate with all our LGBT communities and I hope this is just one of many initiatives to come in the future.”
Councillor Jenny Dawe, leader of the City of Edinburgh Council, welcomed the DVD.
“Promoting the support offered, by the police, to minority groups is hugely important in ensuring that they feel safe in the communities they live in,” she said.
“Hate crimes should not be tolerated and people should not feel intimidated about reporting them. By spreading this message throughout the LGBT community I hope that less crimes will go unreported and more people will feel secure about the support available to them.”
