ABSTRACT
Within the reconfigured dynamics of post-Macpherson (1999) policing, diversity and difference have been embraced as a rationale through which police forces across England and Wales can build connections with their heterogeneous publics, enhance legitimacy and bring about meaningful internal cultural change. A central part of this new policing mind-set has been the active recruitment and integration of individuals from minority groups into the ranks — among which lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals have been a target demographic despite relatively raw hostilities between the police and LGB communities. Yet, despite growing empirical coverage into how women and black and minority ethnic (BME) officers have fared within this new organisational rubric (Holdaway, 2009; O'Neill & Holdaway, 2007; Rabe-Hemp, 2008; Silvestri, 2007), the occupational experiences of LGB officers have, until recently, been — symbolically some claim — overlooked. Yet, it will be argued that the experiences of LGB officers reflect more broadly the health of police organisations at a given time and that as a subaltern group they hold considerable potential to contribute to meaningful internal cultural change. Accordingly, drawing on the recent findings of a national research project conducted by the author (Jones, 2013a), the aim of this chapter is to redress this empirical imbalance by highlighting some of the main occupational complexities experienced by this subaltern group today, before presenting some practical recommendations on how these experiences can be further improved and utilised within policing futures.
