Hampshire Constabulary

Interview with a Lesbian and Gay Liaison Officer

PC Joe Finch talks about his role as a LAGLO on the Isle of Wight

PC Joe Finch currently works as part of the Newport Town centre Safer Neighbourhoods Team (SNT) on the Isle of Wight. 

He works closely with the licensing team on the Island as well as liaising with other partners such as the local council to tackle wider issues in Newport. 

Joe trained to become a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Officer (LAGLO) in 2008.

What attracted you to the role of LAGLO?
Being gay myself, it felt like I could give something back to the community and work in an area where I have a passion.

With personal experience of what can happen to people who are treated differently just because of who they are attracted to, I felt like this was a role where I could empathise with the victim and work hard to help make their lives a little better. 

What do you consider the duties of the LAGLO to be?
That’s an easy one; I think it is to increase confidence in policing, especially in reporting hate crime.

When it comes to homophobic crime, not only do people have to get over the unpleasantness of being a victim of a crime, but they may then have the added embarrassment of having to explain or divulge their sexuality.

For a lot of people this may be the first time that they have openly admitted their sexuality and for others it may be because they are perceived to be gay when they actually aren’t and they may be embarrassed about this as well.

With so many barriers put up we all know it can be hard to come forward and report incidents to the police, so it is important to provide support to those who do report crimes – ensuring that offenders are caught and the investigation is of a high quality as this can increase confidence in policing.

Through working with partner agencies, getting out there in the community and earning trust and respect we can get people to report crimes to us.

How do you go about putting those duties into practice?
Having a good rapport and partnership with agencies such as the NHS, local youth workers and the council is vital. With my SNT hat on, this becomes easier and ensures that we are all working in the same direction.

Getting into schools and building strong partnerships is also essential and has been a great way to push forward the work we have been doing on the island. Coming up with fresh, new ideas keeps the schools interested and keeps the young people talking about the topic.

It can sometimes feels like you are pestering people when you are trying to get into a school, but I found that by going through the head teacher and just keeping them updated on your progress, you are often put through to the right people and you can do the work that you want to do.

You’ve done some excellent work over the last year highlighting bullying etc. Can you tell me about a few of these interventions?
We started at the IW College Fresher’s Fayre.  After some good links were made with the college, we were invited to have a LAGLO stand there.

Rather than just hand out freebies or leaflets, we wanted to make sure people left with a message and came up with two simple ideas for young people to engage with. The first was to have a large bowl of chocolate peanuts and chocolate raisins mixed in together.

When invited to take one, the young people would often ask us what was inside the chocolate. This gave us the opportunity to talk to them about whether you can judge what is on the inside by just looking at the outside – leading to a wider discussion about pre-judging and stereotyping people because of their appearance.

The second part of the stand was to have two large pieces of paper, one headed ‘positive’ and the other ‘negative’.  We invited the young people to write adjectives on each board. We then spoke to them about the English language and the fact that there are hundreds of vibrant, colourful adjectives that can be used – and yet some people tend to use the word ‘gay’ as a negative adjective.  We then discussed with them how this may make people who identify as gay feel. This was a strong piece of work and young people still talk to me when I see them about the messages that we sent across during those two days.

More recently we have run anti-bullying assemblies at the three main colleges in Newport based around this year’s theme of “words hurt, don’t be a part of it”. I found some good case studies to highlight, including one where a woman was sent to prison for bullying on Facebook and another whereby a young man committed suicide at the age of 14 after years of homophobic bullying.

These have been well received, with young people talking about the effect the assembly had on the way they think. A few people also spoke to me after the assemblies to disclose ongoing bullying issues that they hadn’t had the strength or courage to report previously. As a result of this the schools have been able to take positive action and resolve the problems. 

I have also worked with nine students at one of the colleges to set up an anti-bullying council.  This is in its infancy but should be quite interesting. Even if I have only got through to one person as a result of these assemblies I would see it as a success.

Nobody should ever get to the point where they want to take their own life and nobody should suffer in silence.

I want to get the message across that Police are very approachable and that people can tell us what is going on.

What’s the most satisfying thing about the role of LAGLO?
I think we are in a fantastic position to make a difference.  Having someone come up to you and tell you that they had listened to what you said and that they want to talk to you further, or they agree, or that it had made them think long and hard about how they have been behaving means that the message is getting across and we are making a difference and that is what makes it satisfying!

Where do you see your LAGLO work going in the future?  Is there a particular direction you envisage this work going?
With no gay venues on the Isle of Wight, it can be hard to reach out to the gay community and this is something that I am looking at and planning around.

Also, I’m still focussing on the anti-bullying at present. I am trying to set up a cyber mentoring scheme on the Island and have indentified a company willing to come to the Island for a weekend to train up to 60 young people to be cyber mentors.

I have just started a FIT programme of training at a college on the Island, working with disengaged young people which is still in its infancy but has already been quite rewarding.

I’ve recently become a governor for the local three colleges and will ensure that Hate crime and anti-bullying remains a priority for the schools to deal with.

Overall I see it progressing with the schools, working with young people and see where it goes from there! It’s a corny saying, but really the world is our oyster! There is plenty to be done and lots of opportunities out there if you go looking for them!