Police and equality charities begin innovative programme to crack down on LGBTI hate crime north of the border.
Police Scotland and the Equality Network are to work together to train more than 60 officers to help prevent hate crime faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in Scotland.
The Equality Network, Scotland’s national LGBTI equality charity, will deliver a training programme for police at locations around the country that will help Police Scotland support victims of hate crime, and increase public confidence in police.
Once they have completed the training, police officers will become part of a new network of LGBTI Liaison Officers who can be contacted by members of the LGBTI community. The officers will also be able to help and advise their colleagues across Police Scotland on LGBTI issues.
As part of a coordinated programme of work, the Equality Network will also provide training for Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service staff, while LGBT Youth Scotland will roll out a programme across schools in Scotland to support children and teachers to address homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.
These initiatives are part of the National LGBT Hate Crime Partnership which brings together 35 LGBT organisations from across England, Wales and Scotland, and is being delivered on behalf of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), and led by the LGBT Consortium.
Superintendent Jim Baird of Police Scotland’s Safer Communities Department, said: “Tackling hate crime is a priority for Police Scotland. We are delighted to have worked with the Equality Network. Research and studies show hate crime against the LGBTI community is often under reported. We hope that these specially trained officers will encourage more LGBTI people to come forward with the confidence in Police Scotland to help reverse this trend.”
Supt Baird added: “If anyone feels they have been the victim of, or witness to, a crime which is motivated by malice or ill will because of sexual orientation or gender identity they should report it to us directly, online or through a Third Party Reporting site.
“We take all such reports very seriously and will conduct thorough investigations to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.”
Scott Cuthbertson of the Equality Network, added: “We know too many LGBTI people are the victims of hate crime, but we also know that many, for whatever reason, still do not report hate crimes. We want to change that.
“That’s why we are pleased to be working so closely with Police Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and other criminal justice agencies to provide training on LGBTI issues and to work together to remove the barriers to reporting a hate crime.”
In Scotland, sexual orientation aggravated crime is the second most common type of hate crime, but research shows that many people do not report incidents to the police.
The number of charges for sexual orientation aggravated crime has risen since hate crime legislation came into effect in Scotland in March 2010, to stand at 841 in 2014-15. While reporting of transphobic hate crime remains low at 21 charges in 2014-15, there is evidence of significant under-reporting.
A recent report by the Equality Network found that almost half of LGBT respondents had experienced or witnessed an incident of prejudice or discrimination in the past month, rising to 79% within the past year and 97% within their lifetimes.
The Scottish LGBT Equality Report also found that transgender respondents were more likely to have experienced recent prejudice or discrimination. One out of seven respondents (14%) had experienced or witnessed an incident in the last 24 hours, almost half (45%) in the last week and 91% in the last year.
For more information on hate crime and how to report it in Scotland, click here:
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