Police searching for up to 10 people that taunted teens with homophobic slurs
Wiltshire Police are searching for up to 10 people linked with homophobic taunting (Getty Images, stock)
Police in the English town of Chippenham are searching for a group of up to 10 people who allegedly taunted a young queer couple with threats and homophobic slurs.
The incident took place in Monkton Park on the afternoon of 5 July. The teenage couple told Wiltshire Police that a group of up to 10 people approached them sometime between 3.30pm and 4.45pm.
Officers are now on the hunt for the suspects, and have urged anyone who was in the park that afternoon and may have witnessed the altercation to come forward and get in touch.
A spokesperson for Wiltshire Police said in a statement (via Gazette & Herald): “We are urging witnesses to get in touch following an incident in Monkton Park, Chippenham. The incident occurred between 3.30pm and 4.45pm on July 5.
“A group of up to 10 suspects made inappropriate comments to a teenage couple, using homophobic slurs and making numerous threats towards them. Any witnesses to the incident should call 101 and quote 54260081217.”
The UK police has long been accused of harming the LGBTQ+ community, as well as deploying disproportional force and discriminatory policing practices.
However, some branches of the force are attempting to change that. The acting Chief Constable of West Midlands Police marked Pride Month this year by issuing a public apology for the historic “mistreatment of LGBTQ+ communities across the region”.
CC Scott Green shared an open letter on the matter, saying he wanted to personally “sincerely and wholeheartedly apologise” for the past mistreatment by police against the community, which the force had previously shied away from referencing.
“I recognise laws were historically wrongly used to proactively target members of the LGBTQ+ community, in particular gay and bisexual men, and that this ruined lives having a lasting negative impact,” he wrote.
“As a result, people did not feel they could be open to be who they were or about the people they loved for fear they would be arrested and sent to prison.”
He continued: “This was completely wrong, and for this I would like to extend a sincere apology for any recent and historic injustices and discrimination that members of LGBTQ+ communities in the West Midlands have faced.”
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