Officers to recruit at Utah Pride '06

Several Utah police agencies will be at the Utah Pride 2006 celebration Sunday at Washington Square. But rather than looking for bad guys, the police will be looking for new officers.

It is believed to be the first time in Utah history that police will hold a recruiting drive specifically for members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, which puts on the festival.

South Salt Lake Police Capt. Tracy Tingey said for years officers noticed that during gay events such as Sunday's, the Los Angeles Police Department would send officers to Utah to recruit and were "quite successful" doing it.

"We thought, 'why aren't we doing that?' " Tingey asked.

This year, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Public Safety Liaison will have officers available at the City-County Building to answer questions about how to join the academy and what people need to do to become officers.

"We're just looking for viable candidates," Tingey said. "A person's sexual orientation shouldn't play into how they perform their job."

Seven police agencies from Bountiful to Draper have representatives on the liaison committee and each gave its consent for officers to try recruiting this weekend.

"This isn't the military. We don't have a don't ask, don't tell policy," Tingey said. "The chiefs of police in most agencies have realized they already have had gay and lesbian officers performing with distinction in their ranks and have been for years."

Before, Tingey said, many in the gay and lesbian community felt "locked out" from pursuing a law enforcement or firefighter career. He said the police chiefs of the liaison committee realize, however, there will probably be some in the community who don't like the idea of police departments openly recruiting gay people.

"That's a concern and that was discussed. A lot of those issues are related to religion. We're a government agency," Tingey said. "We're sensitive to those issues but they can't be an overriding factor. A person's sexual orientation should not play into whether they are a good cop or not."

Gary Hornkamp, a member of the public safety committee who is gay and works with gay youths in Ogden, is pleased with the recruiting effort.

"It's a great thing to do," he said. "I think it's positive when law enforcement recruits any minority members. Public Safety needs to reflect the community they serve."

At the Queer Prom in Ogden for high school students last week, Hornkamp said when the students realized some of the officers chaperoning the event were gay, they quickly became interested in how they could enter the academy and become an officer.

"It's how you do your job, not your sexual orientation, that matters," he said.

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