Lancashire Police have officers trained in BSL

The Lancashire (UK) police force now have 14 officers trained in British Sign Language (BSL).

The Constabulary also has a Deaf Liaison Officer, PC Paula Robertson, who promotes sign language and deaf awareness training.

She said: “Those who are deaf are a very isolated group and by improving the service we provide we will encourage them to report crime and other issues to us.”

Supt Bob Eastwood, head of Lancashire Constabulary’s Diversity Unit, added: “Lancashire Constabulary has come a long way in recognising and meeting the needs of the deaf community and it is our aim to make it as easy as possible for everyone to contact us.”

Lancashire Constabulary has an emergency text messaging service for people who are deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech impairment, designed to enable them to contact all emergency services without needing help from anybody else.

The caller simply sends their message with their name, location and nature of incident to 66247.

All divisions across Lancashire also now have Deaf PACT (Police and Communities Together) meetings. These meetings allow people to raise their concerns to the officers who are trained in BSL.

Seen on The Lancashire Telegraph.