Aurora celebrates
five years of achievement
Press Release - May 2008
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Aurora,
Croydon’s LGBT Police Consultation Group, is celebrating five
years of achievement. Aurora provides a forum for members of the local
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities to meet with the
local police to discuss matters of common interest.
Aurora meets regularly at Croydon Town Hall. The Aurora meeting on Tuesday the 6th of May 2008 Aurora will include a special fifth anniversary celebration to mark five years of activity
There have been many notable achievements in the last five years, but here are five in five years:
- Dedicated Police Resource: Successfully lobbying to get dedicated police support – initially with a PC working part-time, and now we have David Kay in Croydon - a PCSO working full-time on LGBT and victim issues. This has massively increased confidence in the LGBT community and enabled LGBT policing issues to be addressed more effectively.
- Tackling LGBT Bullying in Schools: Aurora launched a project, funded by Awards for All, and now close to completion, for the co-chair of Schools Out and LGBT History Month to go into schools in Croydon to equip teachers with the tools to address bullying and equality on all grounds – race, gender, faith, disability, age and sexual orientation. This recognized that many schools were and are ill-equipped to deal with LGBT bullying; the project is now being rolled out to other parts of the country.
- Shared Intelligence: Aurora provided a forum for sharing intelligence and lessons learnt regarding crimes with an LGBT aspect.
- Kellie Telesford Murder: Aurora worked with the Police on the Kellie Telesford murder, to encourage members of the LGBT community to come forward with information and to reassure the LGBT community
- Voice on CCPCG: Aurora, on behalf of the LGBT community is a member of Croydon Community Police Consultation Group, so ensuring that LGBT issues are raised when appropriate.
Inspector
Mary Wood of Croydon Police’s Partnership Team said: “The
job of David and the rest of the Partnership Team is to make sure that
under represented groups can speak to the police and feel that they
will be listened to, not judged. We want to encourage people to feel
confident they can report crime or raise concerns and get a decent response.
That is exactly what Aurora has been trying to do over the last five
years.”
She added: “We've tackled a few problems together which I think has improved our understanding of each other. It helps that the Police have a diverse workforce, but that doesn't always mean we can see things from the community prospective - that's why groups such as Aurora keep us in touch.”
Robert Elliott, Community Representative of Aurora said: “For
the LGBT community, policing in Croydon has come a long way in the last
five years. The work that Aurora has done – with the dedication
of community members and the strong support of the Police has made a
major contribution to that improvement – especially now that we
have our fantastic dedicated PCSO.”
He added: “I look forward to the Police and the LGBT community working even closer, for the benefit of all in Croydon.
Ends
For more information, see Contact
Us, or see other achievements as
of May 2008.