Matthew Creamer…….Auckland Police Diversity Liason Officer

 

 

What is the the police’s dlversity liaison programme all about?
The programme has two aspects — supporting and building trust with the GLBT community, and Supporting our own GLBT police staff. Theyre both incredibly challenging tasks - particularly because many GLBT people, both in the police and in the greater community, are silent and invisible. Outside the ‘gay ghetto” of  Ponsonby/Grey Lynn/Westmere. it becomes hard to find a cohesive or even visible GLBT Community. In the smaller towns of New Zealand. some people prefer to keep their business strictly their own, be it because of work, fear, safety or simply privacy reasons

So you nead to be as visible as possible then?

That’s what we’ve been trying to do! We’ve been on the telly, in the paper, on the internet, and we try to attend as many community events as we can. We encourage people to come and make contact with us, even if it’s just to say ‘hi’!

We’ve attended the Big Gay Out in Auckland, the Gay and Lesbian Fair in Wellington, the Rainbow Youth fundraisers, and their BBQs, GABA, AI..BA, the anniversary of the twenty years of law reform at the Auckland Town Hall. the Gayline training day. Pride Week, UniQ events, even a gay youth hui.

How did the programme start?
It began in 2004 with 14 DLOs trained up at a week long course at Police College, and now we have over 30 nationwide,
with another dozen or more keen to be trained up at the next DLO course in December. The course is pretty intense, with many members of the community bravely comng in to share their experiences. It must be pretty damn scary coming in to the Police College to tell your own story of coming to terms with yourself, and I’m always totally rroressed and humbled by there honestly and courage.

Are there many LGBT police officers?
Yes, and it’s also our job to make sure that they feel the police is a great place to work by supporting them throughout their
career. That maens ensuring all our staff know what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, and by providing a bit of education about sexual and gender identity. All the diversity liason officers can deliver the ‘Inclusiveness’ training, and are working through each  of their districts with  also means mentoring new GLBT staff through the recrutment process.

Hoe can our readers get involved?
There’s never been a better time for GLBT people to join the police force, in fact, recently due to strong demand both Wellington and Auckland held, for the first time ever a special gay recruitment evening. Many of the people that attended are working through the recruiting process now, and will be proud serving New Zealand police officers in no time!

So if your run time is down, your number of press-ups is up, and you have a good grasp of the old maths and English. why not consider attending a recruitment evening and joining the police family? Contact your local DLO for a mentor, or phone 0800 NEWCOPS for more information.
In the meantime if you’ve been a victim of crime, or you know someone who has been, but you’re reluctant to contact the police, feel free to call your local DLO. They’ll help you out. You can find the contacts on the police webelle or on the NZ AIDS Foundation website.
Feel free to email Matt at
matthew creamer@police govt nz