Police apologise to LGBT+ community

Devon & Cornwall’s Acting Chief Constable, Jim Colwell, has made a formal apology to the LGBT+ community, over the way police enforced historic anti-LGBT+ laws.

In a letter to LGBT+ campaigner Peter Tatchell, Mr Colwell said: “We know that the police have to uphold the laws of the day. Of course, it also matters how the law is upheld. I know that, at the time, the way the laws were enforced was often disrespectful and inappropriate, and caused long-running damage to trust in policing amongst LGBT+ communities. This includes impacting adversely on our own LGBT+ officers and staff. I have of course heard this directly from ex-officers.

“I want to apologise for the way those laws were enforced in the past and for any harm caused to LGBT+ communities in Devon & Cornwall as a result.”

The Chief Constable’s full letter can be read here.

Mr Colwell is the fifteenth UK police chief to apologise, following similar apologies by the heads of the Metropolitan, City of London, Sussex, South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Gwent, Avon & Somerset, Cambridgeshire, Gloucestershire, Dorset, West Mercia, North Yorkshire, Wiltshire and Nottinghamshire forces.

His apology is in response to the #ApologiseNow campaign initiated by the Peter Tatchell Foundation. The campaign was backed by comedian and TV presenter Paul O’Grady before his untimely passing.