GAY AMMANFORD

Minutes of 4^th Gay Ammanford meeting held on Wednesday 6^th May, 2009

ATTENDEES

Attendee names hidden for privacy and security puposes.
PC Kevin Jones

ISSUES DISCUSSED

·        Equality Conference Group (Cross Hands) Meeting 30^th May, 2009

The first meeting of the ECG for the Cross Hands area was held at the Cinema in Cross Hands, attendees included members of the local Cross Hands community from minority groups as well as local councillors and representatives from local agencies. Many issues were discussed in the meeting relating to the Cross Hands area; one issue raised by members of the meeting was that it had not been publicised sufficiently which may have prevented other people attending. An ECG meeting for the Ammanford area will be held shortly.

·        Swansea Gay Pride

Swansea Gay Pride will be held on Saturday, 27^th June at Singleton Park, Swansea. It is the intention of the group to have a stall at the event and a discussion about ideas for it took place, including holding a raffle and asking local businesses for a financial donation or items to be used as prizes. It was suggested that introducing items that other stalls might not offer, such as branded mugs, key rings and leaflets for example, might give an advantage to the Gay Ammanford stall and serve to attract more people to it. Cairn and Geraint will speak to Peter Martin for details about the event and feed back to the group in the next meeting.

·        Dyfed-Powys Police Single Equality Scheme Launch

The Dyfed-Powys Police Single Equality Scheme was launched at a conference at the Stradey Park Hotel in Llanelli which Cairn and Geraint attended. The conference included many high ranking police officers from the Dyfed-Powys force and also other interested parties. Highlights from the conference included discussion about a Hate Crime Support Scheme included in the Single Equality Scheme, which will pay particular attention to transphobic and homophobic hate incidents. Acting Assistant Chief Constable Gwyn Jones who led the meeting spoke about the introduction of diversity champions, who are staff that already serve as senior managers within Dyfed-Powys Police, to drive progress on the different strands of hate crime.  He also spoke about the training of Hate Crime Support Officers to offer support to both the victims of a hate incident as well as the officer in charge of the case. 12 officers from each division have undergone the training with the intention of the role being to reassure minority groups that their complaints and issues are valid and are being taken seriously by the police. A point made by several officers at the meeting was the challenge in dealing with hate crime in the UK is its culture, with a tendency of a lack of respect and negative attitudes of the public towards both minority groups and police action. A pledge was made by Dyfed-Powys police that by introducing this scheme they aim to tackle hate crime directly with positive action through involving the minority groups and establishing their needs.

·         The nature of the Gay Ammanford group

A discussion about the nature of the Gay Ammanford group took place, with members voicing ideas about the group’s future and status. It was decided that securing funding was a priority and that a recognised structure of officers and roles may need to be introduced in order to meet any criteria for grants, etc. - Geraint will speak to Communities First about any funding that can be potentially accessed. It was also raised that greater advertisement of the group via radio broadcasts and adverts in local papers may serve to attract more members and get more input from the local gay community.

·        Police Liaison

PC Kevin Jones attended the meeting and is the liaison officer for the Gay Ammanford group. He spoke briefly about his role as Local Beat Manager for Ammanford and the surrounding area as well as the recent introduction of the new non-emergency police contact telephone number, 101. A discussion followed about the diversity training he had received and he explained that all officers must complete diversity training as legislated by the Home Office, and that Dyfed-Powys Police were the first police force in the UK to have introduced the Single Equality Scheme.

·        Social Events

A group discussion was held about holding social events with many ideas being raised. It was decided to hold another trip to Megabowl in Parc Tawe, Swansea on Saturday 13^th June, with all those attending to meet there at 6pm. This will be confirmed at the next meeting.