Gay and Lesbian Cops: Diversity and Effective Policing

This book confronts an area of police organisation which has received scarce empirical research ‒ the experiences of gay and lesbian officers. Colvin's study is a comparative one focusing on the UK and USA police, comprising of fieldwork in specific locales in both countries (Hampshire and Wiltshire in the UK, and Washington DC in the USA). This included a non-random survey of gay, lesbian and bisexual officers in the UK (n=243) and in the USA (n=66), together with qualitative interviews and focus groups with a smaller number of officers ‒ totalling the largest single study of gay and lesbian officers conducted. Situated within the broad theme of community policing, Colvin charts the ways the diversity of the police organisation has evolved, and the political processes which have structured this. Colvin's analysis is focused principally around the roles of gay and lesbian police officers and their cultural competency to deal with crimes involving the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community (GLBT). In the context of previous hallowing works charting systematic homophobia within the police (e., the book reads very optimistically in many sections, charting the numerous strides taken to improve the experiences of gay and lesbian officers in the police. Much of the book is focused on the role of specific units established within the police organisation to respond to crimes impacting on the GLBT community. These police initiatives include Lesbian and Gay Liaison Officers (LAGLOs) evident in many police departments in England and Wales, and Gay and Lesbian Liaison Units in Washington D.C. These initiatives are analysed through the police's roles and effectiveness in both engaging with GLBT communities, and responding to homophobic-orientated crimes. In both situations, the police have historically failed to establish trust with such communities. Colvin describes the organisational changes which have given rise to a much more progressive police response in both the UK and US field sites. The changes within the Washington D.C Police Department were attributed to several high profile incidents of police corruption and systematic failures to respond to hate crimes involving the GLBT community, where the then chief of police, Charles Ramsey implemented an organisational 'shake-up' of the department to improve its relations with minority communities. By contrast in the UK, Colvin attributes the police's organisational changes to the McPherson Report and its provision of guidelines to improve relations between the police and minority communities. In the U.K field sites these were …