§ Mr. Tom Coxasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in view of the Council of Europe recommendation 924, what is the policy of police forces in the United Kingdom about recruiting homosexuals as police officers or the employment of an officer once it is known that he or she is homosexual.
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§ Mr. HurdThe responsibility for appointing police constables rests with chief officers of police. The procedures for selecting police recruits do not seek to determine whether or not a candidate is a homosexual. Knowledge that a police officer was a homosexual would not of itself affect his career. Disciplinary action would be considered only if his behaviour were such as to be prejudicial to discipline or to affect adversely the reputation of the police service.