Constable Leanne Benjamin, of Dunedin, was recently appointed a diversity liaison officer (DLO) for the Otago Coastal area, on top of her front-line duties.
As she explains it, the role involves acting as a safe point of contact between the police and the rainbow community, a term encompassing the spectrum of gender and sexuality-diverse people, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, asexual and intersex people.
The affable 36-year-old is also responsible for supporting colleagues in the police who identify as members of the rainbow community.
Herself a member of that community, Const Benjamin said the DLO role was important because gender and sexuality-diverse people, particularly trans people, experienced disproportionate rates of violence and were less likely to report being a victim of crime.
Police on the front line, public safety teams she is a member of spent much of their time attending domestic violence incidents, where it was critical to have an officer who understood those involved, she said.
''It might be that it's a same sex relationship, or there may be a member of the family that identifies as a member of the rainbow community.
''It's about letting them know that they have a person to connect with in the police, so that they can feel safe and supported talking to someone that they might find easier to relate to, about something that they might find hard to discuss.
''I know that there are members of that community who are less likely to report being victims of crime.''
Born and raised in Dunedin and an alumna of Queen's High School, Const Benjamin has been with NZ Police for almost two years, having previously served with the Queensland police in Logan City, near Brisbane.
She is developing an education workshop for police in the Otago Coastal area, focused on improving knowledge of gender and sexuality-diverse people and the difficulties they face.
Her fellow constables and her superiors had been nothing but supportive of her efforts, she said.
''If we're going to be an organisation that says we support the rainbow community, we also need to know what we're talking about, and we need to understand the barriers and challenges that they face.''
