Twenty years on: lesbian, gay and bisexual police officers' experiences of workplace discrimination in England and Wales

Twenty years ago Mark Burke’s (1993, 1994) pioneering research into homosexuality and policing evidenced wide spread prejudice and hostility towards gay male police officers in nine forces across England & Wales. These serving officers were felt to represent the most serious kind of contamination and threat to the integrity of the British Police Service by their heterosexual colleagues (Burke 1994). Twenty years on this research, which represents the largest ever survey of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual police officers in England and Wales (N=836), evidences that just under one fifth reported experiencing discrimination, with those in small and large forces, those in senior ranks and non-uniformed positions, and those who identify as gay male and BME experiencing the highest levels of victimization in training, deployment and promotion. Like Brown (2011) we conclude that a central aim of the diversity reform agenda must be a renegotiation of the psychological contract between staff and the organisation. A relational setup must be sought where mutual expectations of exchange are established and efforts are made to create a rich working environment that draws upon and invests in the subjective and inter-subjective identity characteristics of LGB police officers.