Outsome of police professional standards investigation

We promised to let you know the outcome of the professional standards investigation into a detective at Warwickshire Police for her failure to properly investigate LGBTQ+ hate crime and the shocking treatment of one of our trustees.

As expected, Warwickshire Police are protecting their own and have dismissed the complaint.

It has been pointed out that this is another example of Warwickshire Police failing LGBTQ+ communities.

Now this has concluded, a very large complaint is due to be submitted that details many local LGBTQ+ people’s experiences of Warwickshire Police when they’ve reported hate. This has been a significant undertaking that involves many local LGBTQ+ victims of hate crime. There are patterns throughout that show consistently poor outcomes, witness statements and evidence being dismissed, poor communication, and making victims feel like they are the problem.

Earlier this year, we attended a meeting with Warwickshire’s Police & Crime Commissioner to make him aware of the community complaint. He then spoke to the Chief Constable to put across the experiences of local LGBTQ+ people. That resulted in a meeting with a Superintendent at Warwickshire Police, who committed to a random sample of LGBTQ+ hate crime reports being looked at each month to determine whether there are failings with how such reports are handled.

Sadly, the experiences since then have been worse.

Thank you to all the local LGBTQ+ people who have shared their experiences of Warwickshire Police to be included in the complaint that is going to be submitted. It appears to indicate what a growing number of people are calling an institutional problem.

LGBTQ+ victims of hate crime deserve better.

We call on Warwickshire Police to stop failing LGBTQ+ communities.

We stand with all LGBTQ+ victims of hate who have been failed by Warwickshire Police. We will continue to provide emotional, practical and peer support to anyone who needs it.

If you wish to share your experiences with us to be included in the complaint, there is still time to do that. Please email info@warwickshirepride.co.uk by the end of the weekend.