Police chief apologises to LGBT community

Chief Constable of Dorset Police Amanda Pearson said there was still work to do to gain the trust of the LGBT community

Dorset Police has become the 13th force in the country to apologise for its past treatment of the LGBT community.

In a letter, Chief Constable Amanda Pearson said sorry "for any physical and mental harm and trauma" caused by the way "previous laws were enforced".

It was sent to the Peter Tatchell Foundation in response to the charity's #ApologiseNow campaign.

Director Peter Tatchell said Ms Pearson's words would "go a long way towards securing a more constructive, collaborative relationship" between the force and LGBT people.

The campaign began in June 2023 and has attracted apologies from the heads of the Metropolitan, City of London, Sussex, South Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Gwent, Avon & Somerset, Cambridgeshire, West Mercia, Nottinghamshire and Wiltshire forces.

The campaign aims to improve relationships between the police and LGBT communities

In the letter, Ms Pearson said "policing has a duty to uphold and enforce the laws of the day".

"However, it is clear that the way in which previous laws were enforced and the associated police activities caused significant harm, trauma, anger and injustice to LGBT+ communities," she said.

She said there was a "brighter future" ahead, pointing to a number of initiatives such as the Inclusive Leadership Programme, LGBT staff network, and Call It Out campaign.

"Today's police service is not what it was," she said.

Peter Tatchell welcomed the apology from Dorset Police

Mr Tatchell said apologies like Dorset Police's helped "draw a line under past police homophobia", and were continuations "of the great work the police have been doing in recent years".

"My immense gratitude to Amanda for her forthright apology to the LGBT+ community on behalf of Dorset Police – and for the positive, supportive and inclusive LGBT+ policies she set out in her letter to me," he said.

"I hope it will inspire more LGBTs to report hate crime, domestic abuse and sexual assaults, which is what we all want."