Police log on to gaydar in fight against homophobic crime

Seven police forces across the UK are signing up with social networking site gaydar.co.uk in the ongoing fight against homophobic crime.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community liaison police officers from the West Midlands, Staffordshire and South Wales forces are considering profiles on gaydar.co.uk following successful trial partnerships with the Metropolitan Police in London and Sussex police.

The police presence will aim to encourage the gay and lesbian community to use the website as a safe and confidential means of reporting homophobic crime. One recent communication led to the detection and arrest of a suspect accused of an offence.

Since the London and Sussex trials, Cheshire and Lancashire police forces have also created profiles as part of a nationwide police plan to facilitate better communication with the gay and lesbian community. The scheme has been led by Paul Trickey, client services manager at gaydar.co.uk, he said: “We have always had a close working relationship with the police and with crime against the gay and lesbian community on the increase we need to ensure that our users can all communicate with the police in confidential manner if they fall victim at any time.

“To date the feedback from the police has been very positive to the point where they could well make this an official crime reporting route by publishing their profiles on the force’s website. Similarly, the feedback from our subscribers who have reported crimes has been extremely positive. We’d now like to open out this service to all other police forces across the country.”

Gaydar.co.uk also plans to extend the scheme to other bodies and organisations that are working with gay and lesbian victims of domestic violence.

Terry Sanderson, spokesman for the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GAHLA), said the initiative is an excellent idea, which will help protect a high number of people using gaydar who are likely to put themselves at risk. “Users of the site are likely to see incidents that need to be reported and the targeting of resources in this area is very important and efficient.”