Legal News

Appointment of openly gay assistant police chief in Riverside County a sign of changing times

By Richard Binder

Raymond Gregory began working for the Sheriff's Department in Blythe in 1990.  When he moved to the Coachella Valley eight years later and volunteered for the sheriff's association in Riverside, he also decided to live his life publicly as a gay man. 

Now Gregory is the assistant police chief in La Quinta, overseeing the sheriff's jails in Blythe and Indio.

Undersheriff Valerie Hill said the agency tries to reflect the communities it serves by having a diverse force that shows the public it understands specific cultures, prejudices or issues of that community.  Diversity cuts both ways, as more visible diversity in leadership can lead to greater diversity in applicants.

Sheriff's Sgt. Don Mueller, president of the Gay Peace Officers Association of Southern California, says the Los Angeles police and sheriff's departments have recruited gays and lesbians since the mid 1990s and are both ahead in training staff on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues as well as having written policies protecting those officers.

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Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on August 26, 2009 (boomark / email).