PCCs will set the budget for your local police force, set local policing priorities, hire and (if necessary) fire the Chief Constable and engage with the local community. They have to set their local policing plan by the end of March 2013 and have a responsibility to consult local people on the plan.
PCCs will therefore make crucial decisions affecting how the local police tackle issues such as homophobic hate crime, same-sex domestic violence and anti-social behaviour in the local community. This is why it is really important PCCs engage with and understand the needs of their local lesbian, gay and bisexual community.
PCCs are accountable to the local community and should set local police budgets and priorities to reflect their concerns. PCCs have until the end of March 2013 to set their local policing plan and it is important that local lesbian, gay and bisexual people, as well as organisations and community groups that work with them, engage with PCCs to raise the concerns of the local lesbian, gay and bisexual community. Some PCCs will be holding meetings in the local community, others may be running surveys. Whatever they’re doing, get involved.
It is important that PCCs understand the needs of local lesbian, gay and bisexual people. Stonewall has published a range of research, covering every police region in England and Wales, that you may find useful when engaging with your local PCC. Key findings include:
- One in eight lesbian and gay people experience a homophobic hate crime or incident a year.
- Over one in ten lesbian and gay people think homophobic hate crimes are a 'big problem' in their local area.
- Over three in four victims of homophobic hate crimes or incidents did not report them to the police. Seven in ten victims did not report it to anyone.
- The primary reasons for not reporting incidents to the police are victims not feeling it was serious enough to report (43 per cent), not thinking the police would or could do anything (34 per cent), not feeling it would be taken seriously (27 per cent) and the incidents being too common to report (15 per cent).
- Half of gay and bisexual men have experienced at least one incident of domestic abuse from a family member or partner compared to 17 per cent of men in general.
- Four in five lesbian and bisexual women and gay and bisexual men have not reported incidents to the police.
- Three in five victims say the perpetrator of the homophobic hate crime was a stranger under the age of 25.
- One in four gay people under 25 have experienced a hate crime or incident in the past three years (compared to one in five gay people overall).
These findings are taken from Homophobic Hate Crime - The Gay British Crime Survey 2008, Serves You Right (2008), Gay and Bisexual Men's Health Survey (2012), Prescription for Change (2008), The Teachers' Report (2009) and The School Report (2012). All of these publications and more can be downloaded free from www.stonewall.org.uk/publications
Below are the links to the websites or contact details of all PCCs in England and Wales:
Avon & Somerset - Sue Mountstevens
Bedfordshire - Olly Martins
Cambridgeshire - Sir Graham Bright
Cheshire - John Dwyer
Cleveland - Barry Coppinger
Cumbria - Richard Rhodes
Derbyshire - Alan Charles
Devon & Cornwall - Tony Hogg
Dorset - Martyn Underhill
Durham - Ron Hogg
Dfyed Powys – Christopher Salmon
Essex - Nick Alston
Gloucestershire - Martin Surl
Greater Manchester - Tony Lloyd
Gwent – Ian Johnston
Hampshire - Simon Alexander Hayes
Hertfordshire - David Lloyd
Humberside - Matthew Grove
Kent - Ann Barnes
Lancashire – Clive Grunshaw
Leicestershire - Clive Loader
Lincolnshire - Alan Hardwick
Merseyside - Jane Kennedy
Norfolk - Stephen Bett
Northamptonshire - Adam Simmonds
Northumbria - Vera Baird
North Wales – Winston Roddick
North Yorkshire - Julia Mulligan
Nottinghamshire - Paddy Tipping
South Wales – Alun Michaels
South Yorkshire - Shaun Wright
Staffordshire - Matthew Ellis
Suffolk - Tim Passmore
Surrey - Kevin Hurley
Sussex - Katy Bourne
Thames Valley - Anthony Stansfeld
Warwickshire - Ronald Ball
West Mercia - Bill Longmore
West Midlands - Bob Jones
West Yorkshire - Mark Burns-Williamson
Wiltshire - Angus Stuart Macpherson
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If you cannot find the information you need on this website, you can call our info line on 08000 50 20 20 (Mon-Fri 9:30am - 5:30pm) and we will try to point you in the right direction.
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