Police officers who identify as gay or lesbian make up less than 3% of the workforce in some constabularies across England and Wales, the first figures of
their kind suggest.

Other forces reported levels more than double this, according to snapshot
staffing figures obtained from police forces by the PA news agency under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws.

A total of 2,494 officers are recorded as heterosexual, equating to 93.7% of the workforce where sexuality is recorded.

There are 96 gay/lesbian officers (3.6%), 64 bisexual officers (2.4%) and eight
who prefer to self-describe (0.3%).

Chief Inspector Lee Broadstock, co-chairman of the LGBT+ network representing gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans officers across the country, told PA: “If we’re not representative of our communities then we don’t understand that community.

There needs to be an understanding of what the communities need to give people an equitable police service.”

The total workforce, including those whose sexuality is unknown, is 3,930 officers. Some 66.9% of the workforce is described as male. A total of 67.7% of the workforce has its sexuality recorded.