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“You’d just cop flak from every other dickhead under the sun”: navigating the tensions of (in)visibility and hypervisibility in LGBTI police liaison programs in three Australian states
Citation
Dwyer, A and Ball, MJ, 'You'd just cop flak from every other dickhead under the sun': navigating the tensions of (in)visibility and hypervisibility in LGBTI police liaison programs in three Australian states, Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 36, (2) pp. 274-292. ISSN 1043-9862 (2020) [Refereed Article]
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DOI: doi:10.1177/1043986219894420
Abstract
This article examines the different ways that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and
intersex (LGBTI) police liaison officers in three states of Australia conceptualized
and problematized the public visibility of LGBTI police liaison services. In a climate
where LGBTI police liaison services are a prominent model for building relationships
between police and LGBTI people, this article considers, through interview data with
LGBTI police liaison officers, these officers’ perceptions of the role that the visibility
of these programs played in their success. Specifically, it explores the tensions and
difficulties for officers and LGBTI communities resulting from the general invisibility
of liaison officers themselves (and, by extension, these programs), as well as the
problems that increased visibility of these programs might bring to officers, to LGBTI
communities, and to policing work itself. Although enhancing the visibility of liaison
services may be an important goal, this research suggests that careful consideration
is required regarding how this visibility is produced and maintained, particularly given
the concerns that officers reported about the potential risks posed by adopting
new forms of visibility, including the risk of hypervisibility. This article questions the conventional view that increased visibility is unproblematic and is the key to the
success of such programs.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | police, LGBTI, liaison programs, visibility, invisibility, hypervisibility, heteronormativity, homonormativity |
| Research Division: | Human Society |
| Research Group: | Criminology |
| Research Field: | Police administration, procedures and practice |
| Objective Division: | Law, Politics and Community Services |
| Objective Group: | Justice and the law |
| Objective Field: | Law enforcement |
| UTAS Author: | Dwyer, A (Dr Angela Dwyer) |
| ID Code: | 140072 |
| Year Published: | 2020 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 1 |
| Deposited By: | Office of the School of Social Sciences |
| Deposited On: | 2020-07-23 |
| Last Modified: | 2021-02-12 |
| Downloads: | 4 View Download Statistics |
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