Should officers attend Pride events? BBC report of debate.

Mr Dean (Green) said "embedding" officers in communities would give them more of a sense of achievement.

Unfortunate choice of words.....

Mr Overton blamed the government for underfunding police forces. He said additional civilian staff would free up officers to do their jobs.

Labour candidate would say that.......

Mr Curteis argued police officers were demoralised by diversity targets, and from attending and funding Pride events.

I actually said Gay Pride/Police 'We Stand Together' events. Dancing with drag queens was not mentioned, but Campion is rolling out Gay/Pride Police We Stand Together events across the shocked region across smaller towns as well as metropolitan areas. He denied that Police funded these events, but accounts prove otherwise. As for diversity targets I said that these are losing the Police excellent recruits who are being turned away in order to fulfil targets.

But Mr Campion accused Mr Curteis of promoting misinformation, saying he was proud West Mercia was an inclusive organisation.

He also argued police pay must "keep pace" with inflation.

The misinformation he means is that he denies that he is funding Gay Pride/Police We Stand Together, which he unquestionably is doing. Pay rise promises are always great politics but what's that got to do with Pride/Police 'We Stand Together'. It kind of implies I didn't think we needed pay to keep pace with inflation. Wrong!!!!

Ms Murray also disagreed with Mr Curteis, saying it was important officers attend Pride events.

Nice lady. Surely being gay is optional and should not be compulsory. Do we want sexual politics on display in front of children? I don't. And the majority of Police officers agree with me. Don't worry I am not anti-any group. I just want Police morale to recover to an acceptable level and money to be spent more sensibly.