Police diversity training reaches out to GLBTI community

Accepting diversity will soon be part of a new code of conduct being drawn up for police officers. Accepting differences is all part of the professional behaviour required of all sworn officers, according to Police EEO and Diversity Manager Carol Train.

“We have ethics training and human rights training that is mandatory, and we have inclusiveness training. Increasingly the message is getting out there that all staff have to act professionally. We are developing our staff and giving them the skills to act professionally in all situations,” Carol says.

The police force has come a long way from the 90s, when a lot of organisations saw EEO as a "tick the box" exercise. Now it’s “absolutely valued” and part of business as usual in the organisation, Carol says. Three years ago the police trained 12 Diversity Liaison Officers (DLOs). Now there are 32 DLOs across the country and further training courses will be held in December.

“We have Diversity Liaison Officers in every district, working as a support network not only for the GLBTI community but for GLBTI staff.”

Carol says she does not know how many gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex (GLBTI) staff there are in the police, as they are not all “out” or don’t all feel confident disclosing their sexuality. It is not part of the census information the organisation captures.

The Police Organisation is actively reaching out to the GLBTI community. “We now have Gay and Lesbian recruiting seminars; we have our DLOs at GLBTI events like Big Gay Out or Gay and Lesbian Fair in Auckland, and Pride Week in Canterbury. We now have a network where staff can go to if they have issues and we have training packages on inclusiveness – our DLOs have been trained and now have District Inclusiveness Training packages for their staff.”

Asked whether the Police’s diversity initiatives were having an effect on recruitment, Carol says they certainly take away a certain stigma and some barriers GLBTI people may have faced in the past.

The push to change attitudes comes from the highest level of the organisation, and while most people would agree that there are still problems, attitudes are getting better “almost by the day”, she says. “It’s just getting to those few that let us down. Also supporting people who challenge their colleagues if they see behaviour that’s not professional.”