In three years, 27 police forces in England and Wales have spent more than £66,000 on rainbow-themed merchandise in support of the LGBT community, The Daily Telegraph reports. This prompted the British public to question police priorities, given the UK’s record low crime clearance rate.
UK police have spent more than £66,000 on rainbow-themed merchandise, including flags, whistles, lanyards and lip balms, to support the LGBT community, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Figures released yesterday under the Freedom of Information Act show that 27 police forces in England and Wales spent £66,689 on LGBT paraphernalia between 2019 and 2022. The law enforcement agencies have been accused of “spending money on nonsense” in this regard.
South Wales Police spent the most, spending £24k on rainbow flags, face paint, T-shirts, badges, pens, whistles, wristbands, keyrings and water bottles. Kent Police spent £8k on rainbow whistles, keyrings, wristbands, paper stickers, pens, pencils, erasers, coasters and covers.
Also in the top three was Essex Police, who spent £7,700 on rainbow paraphernalia. Lancashire Police bought lip balms, flags, keyrings, lanyards and stickers with rainbow colours for £1,500. And Avon and Somerset law enforcement bought portable fans with LGBT paraphernalia, spending £4,900 to support the community.
An investigation by the Taxpayers’ Alliance also revealed that hundreds of pounds were spent painting police cars in rainbow colours.
Such spending has left the British public questioning police priorities, given that crime detection in the UK is now at a record low and the number of offences committed is at an all-time high.
According to the Home Office, only 5.4% of all crimes were charged in the year up to June last year, down by a third from seven years ago. Meanwhile, the total number of crimes stood at 6.5 million, an increase of 7% since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Police chiefs were caught red-handed spending money on nonsense. In the face of rising crime rates, there’s little consolation for Britons that police officers are dressed up in rainbow paraphernalia,” said Taxpayers’ Alliance spokesman Tom Ryan. He said the police should “stop this senseless spending and put the money into fighting crime”.
A separate enquiry has previously revealed that British fire brigades have spent £17,000 on decorating fire engines and £35,000 on rainbow paraphernalia in the last five years, The Daily Telegraph writes.
Senior Diversity and Inclusion Academy officer at Kent Police Amanda Tillotson said such paraphernalia, which is designed to “prevent crime” against the LGBT community, works by “regularly reminding the general public of the importance of communities working together to support and protect each other”. In doing so, she said, the police take “their responsibilities to all communities seriously”.
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