Devon & Cornwall Constabulary Equality & Diversity..is a joke!

Devon & Cornwall Constabulary. Independent Police Complaints Commission. Cornwall Police Authority. Gay Police Association.

Naming of Police officers names! But, what choice do we have?

God knows, we have tried to get Devon & Cornwall Constabulary, Independent Police Complaints Commission, Cornwall Police Authority…, and others, to address the problem of Homophobic attitudes & practises prevalent within the Cornwall police force.

Our letters & emails ignored and un-replied too!

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is in our personal experience, a fiasco. The IPCC does not protect the public from police abuses of power, misconduct, & criminality carried out by police officers (in our experience). The majority of our complaints against Cornwall police simply swept under lumpy office carpets of the IPCC, un-investigated.

Unfortunately, even gay organisations, like The Intercom Trust, are overly keen to appease police. Tragically, Intercom seriously let down many gay people in Cornwall, having lost sight of whom they are supposed to represent, the victims of police misconduct & police prejudicial practises & attitudes….gay people.

Despite our experience, we acknowledge it is not fair that ALL Cornwall police officers be tarred with the same brush, as we did encounter one exception. A single, insular police officer who conducted herself appropriately and who got a result on a homophobic incident, resulting in a written caution to someone who made homophobic threats of violence over the internet.

That police officer was THE EXCEPTION rather than the rule in the way Cornwall police still treat homophobic incidents, abuse & violations of gay peoples lives in Cornwall.

• A HOME OFFICE report in 2005 noted that HOMOPHOBIA was ENDEMIC throughout the police. It most certainly is in Cornwall in our experience.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article744815.ece

• Complaints against Devon & Cornwall Constabulary rose by 19% last year. Making Devon & Cornwall police the 5th most complained about police force in Britain out of 43 police forces.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7094753.stm

• The Lord Justice Kay award 2005 revealed that of 354 homophobic incidents reported to Devon & Cornwall police, only 13 were finalised in court. Many investigations never completed, such is the contempt within Devon & Cornwall police force towards gay persons.
http://justiceawards.cjsonline.gov.uk/ljk-award/Executive_Summary23_11_06.doc

.Even complaints within the Gay Police Association itself has recorded a record rise in complaints by police against police for homophobia.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7236233.stm

• The twenty two recommendations made by the IPCC in 2006 as a result of partial investigation of just a 'tip of the iceberg' fraction of complaints made against Devon & Cornwall constabulary by gay person. These IPCC recommendations treated with utter contempt by Devon & Cornwall Constabulary.

We have been unable to get any of the governing authority bodies named in the header to take note or responsibility to investigate properly, fully or fairly the plethora of these interconnected complaints against Cornwall police officers. These problems we believe stem from prejudicially held institutional embedded attitudes, assumptions & practises by Cornwall police officers towards & against gay persons, their gay lives, gay relationships, & gay lifestyles.

As a gay man, I know gay people are still ‘NOT SAFE’ from homophobic attitudes & practises endemic within Cornwall institutions, in particular the Cornwall police force. As a direct result of my personal experiences, observation, & knowledge of conduct, and/or attitudes & practises of the following named Cornwall police officers. I do not believe Devon & Cornwall Constabulary has even begun to address the ‘canteen culture’ of prejudicial attitudes within its ranks.

If the authorities refuse to take seriously, the problems genuinely encountered of police officers conduct against gay persons, then gay people must act to protect themselves. The authorities responsible for overseeing the police are blatantly unwilling to investigate complaints against police.

We have tried!

Therefore, it is in 'utter' frustration & we believe for the SAFETY and awareness of other members of the Cornwall LGBT community, we now felt it imperative that gay people be aware of those police officers with whom other members of the Cornwall gay community have encountered most serious problems. Police conduct, and/or attitudes & practises, which has had a severe adverse, traumatic, violating, abusive and destructive impact upon gay people’s lives in Cornwall.

It is as a direct result of the conduct, attitudes & practises of the following police officers I and others do not feel SAFE in Cornwall as gay persons.


(UNINVESTIGATED complaint) PC Treloar,
(UNINVESTIGATED complaint) PC Honey,
(Effectively excused by IPCC) Act/Sgt Martin,
(Effectively excused by IPCC) DC Anning,
(UNINVESTIGATED complaint) DC Scott,
(UNINVESTIGATED complaint) PC Alexander & undisclosed colleague,
(Effectively excused by IPCC) Some Custody officers at Camborne police station,
(UNINVESTIGATED complaint) x3 Police undisclosed officers on duty Helston Flora Day 2006
(UNINVESTIGATED complaint) x4 Police undisclosed officers outside Eclipse night club.
(Effectively excused by IPCC) PC Tar & undisclosed colleague.
(Effectively excused by IPCC) Insp. Bolt
(Effectively excused by IPCC) Insp. Eastern
(UNINVESTIGATED complaint) DC Parker
(UNINVESTIGATED complaint) Sgt Rowe
(UNINVESTIGATED complaint) DC Crowe
(UNINVESTIGATED complaint) Sgt Beckerlegge
(UNINVESTIGATED complaint) PC Piper (lgbt diversity officer)

It is not just that the IPCC have ignored most of the complaints, but the IPCC declined to take into account the interconnection between ALL the various misconduct, and/or attitudes & practises of the police officers involved, and accumulative negative 'snowball' effect this had upon some members of the gay community.

The disbanding of the successful 2007 Cornwall LGBT Gay PRIDE beach day steering group as a direct result of ‘homophobic’ attitudes & practises of Cornwall police officers. The response in the gay press of an ‘allegedly’ appointed Cornwall LGBT diversity officer further caused anger & dismay amongst gay persons knowledgeable of the facts.

Police hold a unique position of trust & and authority of power in our society. They have to, to enable them to do their jobs properly. Bullying, abuse, misinformation, & lies carried out by police do not help achieve public confidence.

However, when authority bodies like the IPCC, Cornwall Police Authority & the senior rank within the Devon & Cornwall police force itself turn a blind eye, dismiss off hand, & ignore expressed community experiences of continuing prejudicial practises & attitudes of police officers in Cornwall. Then it comes down to the gay community itself to protect itself by being informed of those police officers with whom other gay persons have experienced genuine serious problems.

Devon & Cornwall Constabulary please take note: -

Police ignoring complaints, police spreading disinformation (as police have in the Charles De Menezes case & in our local Cornwall gay experience) in the hope complaints go away is we believe not good police practise.

Never before as a gay man have I felt so ‘AT RISK’ from institutional homophobic conduct, practises & attitudes of Cornwall police officers as I do in 2008!