Profile of PC 1990 Phil Mackey
In 1998 I applied to South Yorkshire Police at the age of 18 to become a Police Constable.
Having successfully made it to the final interview the panel suggested to me that it would benefit
me to spend a period as a Special Constable and reapply having gained some life experience. I
was sworn into the Special Constabulary in January 1999. I was posted to Doncaster Central
Police Station where I worked on average two full shifts each week with the same response team
and quickly grew more hungry to make it through the process again and become a Police
Constable. At this time I knew that I was Gay however had not had the confidence to tell my
friends or family, and therefore did not have the confidence to tell my colleagues in SYP.
Throughout my time as a Special Constable my self confidence grew and grew thanks to the
support of my regular colleagues, and my fellow Special Constables, in developing my
interpersonal skills. Even with all this support I still did not have the confidence to tell my friends
and family that I was gay.
In November 2000 I commenced my service as a Police Constable and was again posted to
Doncaster, however this time working in the villages on the east side of the town. After
completing my residential training course in Harrogate I commenced my probationary period at
District where I immediately found a feeling of family amongst colleagues who would support
each other through the good times and the hardest of times. This helped build my self-confidence
even further, to the point where I felt that I could open up and tell them that I am Gay.
Immediately I was met with positive reactions and the general response of ‘and why does that
matter, your just you” I found that no attitudes changed towards myself and actually felt accepted
even more as socially people would ask questions and take a interest in how I had found
accepting my sexual orientation. This boosted me even more and gave me the courage 4 or 5
months later to tell my family. I found the biggest support in the following weeks coming from my
colleagues in SYP as I dealt with the emotional upheaval, if it wasn’t for that support I cannot
imagine how I would have coped.
In 2005 I successfully gained a position in the traffic department. This was a big culture change
being a much smaller team of people and generally of longer service, myself being one of only a
handful of officers with less than 10 years service in the department. I found that when I arrived
they already knew I am gay. It seemed to be coming across as a taboo subject and found some
officers who did not interact with me at all. This was a surprise as I had not experienced this so
far in SYP. After settling in I broached this with one of my colleagues who opened up himself to
me about the reasons, simply being they did not know anyone who was openly gay and were
scared that they may something unwittingly to offend. Once they got to know me more and after
speaking openly in front of them about my life outside of SYP they soon became relaxed and
again supportive and inclusive.
This spurred me to think more about how others in my position may feel and the support that they
may need. I became interested in the SYP LGB&T support network. This network aims to support
LGB&T staff at work through work issues and home life issues. It also acts as a point of reference
for the force when policy making and is involved in diversity meetings to ensure that the force
supports all members of its workforce taking into account individual needs. This work ties in with
that of the Gay Police Association who focus upon national issues and provide support to
individual forces also. As a result in 2008 I became the Gay Police Association Rep for SYP and
a year later took over the lead role on the LGB&T support network.
This role has shown me how accepting and diverse the SYP ‘family’ is and how infrequent
incidence of bullying or mistreatment due to sexual orientation occurs, indeed I could count these
reported incidents on one hand in the last 5 years. I have found that my sexual orientation has
been no hindrance to my own career development, having obtained my Sergeants qualifications
in 2008 I have routinely performed the role of Acting Sergeant on my teams in Traffic and on a
response team. I have also successfully applied and obtained a Temporary Sergeants position
on a 6 month project where it was clear that my sexual orientation played no part in the
application and interview process in any way.
I feel supported and part of the SYP family daily and find that I can openly talk about my
home life with my colleagues without being judged. The belief that the police service is a
macho environment and if you are anything other than a heterosexual white male that you
will not be fully accepted is a complete myth, I hope my story goes some way to dispel
this myth and encourages you to apply to become a Special Constable.