There are a number of assumptions as to why crimes against LGBTIQ* people are not reported to the police. Reservations of the LGBTIQ* community towards the police play an important role in this. For example, LGBTIQ* fear that they will not be taken seriously or discriminated against by the police or that the police will not act on behalf of LGBTIQ*.

The concerns and skepticism of the LGBTIQ* community towards the police may be due to their problematic shared history. For example, homosexuality was prosecuted in Germany until 1969 and criminal sanctions against homosexuality were only completely abolished with the final abolition of Paragraph 175 in 1994. Measures taken during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, insensitive media coverage of LGBTIQ* and inappropriate social treatment of LGBTIQ* continue to have an impact on the community’s collective memory.

Despite the historically negative relationship between the LGBTIQ* community and the security authorities, especially the police, it should be noted that much has changed for the better in the police. The establishment of the Central LGBTIQ* office at the Schleswig-Holstein State Police underlines this. This can be taken as an opportunity to reconsider the assumption that the police will not take action and to gather our own experiences with the police, especially at joint events and campaigns.