THE Home Affairs Committee have supported a decision by police chief Graham Power to refuse a £6,000 donation towards the Gay Police Association conference in the UK.

Mr Power was among chief officers in Britain to receive such a request and, more recently, was also invited to send delegates on a ‘Gay Pride’ march there.

In response to the request for funds, Mr Power wrote to Neil Ferguson of the association’s national executive committee saying that his budget was for policing the Island and not for giving donations to UK organisations of this kind.

At that time, Mr Power believed that a first letter from the association requesting funds had been answered by his department with an e-mail rejecting the request.

When he received a second request from the association he believed they were being persistent, despite the rejection.

But, he now acknowledges that the e-mail responding to the first letter was never sent.

Mr Ferguson said that there was nothing unusual in them seeking funds from the States police for their conference.

He said it was very useful for all forces to learn skills to deal with lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender issues inside the force and how they affected police staff and policing in the community.

When Mr Power explained to the Home Affairs Committee his reasons for rejecting the request for funds, he was given their support.