Knowledge Exchange:
LGBTQI+ Communities and Police Relations

This is part of a knowledge exchange project between ReportOUT, Drew Dalton at the University of Sunderland, and other invited police and civil society organisations and activists, to work on a project to support relationships between police forces and LGBTQI+ communities at a global level.

What is a knowledge exchange project?

The Office for Students defines a Knowledge Exchange as:

"Knowledge exchange is a process that brings together academic staff, users of research and wider groups and communities to exchange ideas, evidence and expertise."

This is an opportunity for professionals, activists, and academics, to work together to delve deeper into police relations toward LGBTQI+ people, and to use their knowledge to construct a project which aims to support this. We hope to apply for funding together to make this project a reality.

Want to get involved? Read more below!

Who is this project for and how did it come about?

This project was an outcome of the #SaferToBeMe Conference, held in June 2023. This conference brought together over 100+ people from 20+ different countries to discuss the global shape of LGBTQI+ human rights and development needs of LGBTQI+ people. With police brutality featuring significantly in some reports, it was decided to use the knowledge of professionals, and interested people, to construct a way in which we can all work together to bridge the gap between police forces and LGBTQI+ communities.

We warmly welcome interested people with the skills, or knowledge, of policing itself, or LGBTQI+ engagement with the police, to join our working group. Examples of organisations or individuals who may wish to get involved, could be:

Academics with an interest in policing, crime, criminal justice, or gender and sexuality
Researchers with an interest in the above
Members of parliament or civil servants
LGBTQI+ people with experience of dealing with, or working with, the police
Ally and LGBTQI+ police officers
LGBTQI+ police associations
LGBTQI+ security groups
Police forces with an interest in becoming an ally to LGBTQI+ people
Criminal justice departments or institutions
LGBTQI+ activists
LGBTQI+ grassroots organisations at a local, national, or global level
LGBTQI+ civil society organisations at either a national or global level
Other relevant bodies who express an interest, and who can contribute either skills or knowledge, to this project

The aim of the knowledge exchange project is to work together and share knowledge of policing and LGBTQI+ issues to co-construct an idea for a project to tackle police relations toward LGBTQI+ people and their communities, and to further research the nature of police relations toward LGBTQI+ people globally. We aim to seek funding to make sure that this project has the resources to make this happen.

Got skills and knowledge that you could share? Join our first meeting and email list:

Our second meeting will be held on Friday 15th December between 2-3pm (U.K. time) on MS Teams. Contact me to be added to the meeting, or to our email list for future meetings.

Please see below for publications and resources which are linked to this project from our previous meetings.