Interview: Stuart Tickner: LGBT Liaison Officer for Greenwich Borough

How long have you been working within the gay scene?
I have been an LGBT Liaison Officer in the Metropolitan Police Service for 3 years. This is a part-time role which I work alongside my Safer Neighbourhoods Police Officer role.

What does it mean to you being a gay man working within the gay community?
I enjoy working with the gay community, in the past, the community did encounter problems from the police due to the lack of understanding. Things have changed and the relationship between the police and the community is strong and getting stronger, and being part of this revolution is very satisfying. 

What do you feel the South East London Gay (SEL Gay) scene has to offer the LGBT community?
Certainly where I work in Greenwich, the scene is very good, with 3 LGBT venues and a club night to choose from it certainly caters for the community and is a real alternative to going out up town. The community also have the Metro centre on the borough, the staff who work there do a lot of good work for the community.

Why is it so important to have and LGBT team within the Police force?
I think it is important to have an LGBT Liaison Officer on each borough as 90% of homophobic crime goes unreported, and by having a Gay police officer to speak to and to report to breaks down some of the barriers that the police and the community have traditionally encountered. A gay officer may be able to gain the trust of victims of crime which will make them more comfortable speaking about their crime as the officers have a knowledge, insight, understanding and experience in dealing with LGBT issues in the community.

Tell us a bit more about your outreach work?
One of the most important roles we play is going into LGBT venues and hosting LGBT Liaison Officer awareness events, which enable us to meet and speak with the community. The community get to meet us on a regular basis, they grow to know us and trust us so if ever they need to report a crime or need support from us they know that we are very approachable. It also enables us to promote the importance of reporting Homophobic or Transphobic hate crime. When we visit venues we circulate questionnaires asking about experiences with Police and ask for comments about the work we do. These questionnaires are for our own research so that we can deliver a better service to the LGBT community who live work and socialise in Greenwich.

We have recently launched a monthly drop-in surgery at West Greenwich Library on the first Saturday of each month. The surgery gives the community a venue other than a police station where you can report crime or incidents of homophobia, as research shows that one of the reasons for not reporting homophobic hate crime is the embarrassment of going into a Police station to do it. This hopefully will break down more barriers that the community used to encounter, and make it easier to report crime.

What feed back do you get from the LGBT community when you are out in the field?
We get very good feedback from the community they like to see us at the venues which is a good thing as they get to know us the more we visit and this builds trust. Also, when we visit venues we bring with us lots of free promotional goodies, which always seem to go down well, such as pens and wristbands. Occasionally we give out free personal attack alarms.

How can the community contact the police to report hate crime?
There are several ways to contact police and I advise everyone in a non emergency situation contact your local Police station or your local LGBT Liaison officer but 0If it is an emergency please dial 999

If you live work or socialise in Greenwich and wish to speak to the LGBT Liaison Team to report a crime or want advice and support please telephone 020 8284 9864 or email us at lgbt-rg@met.police.uk