Police chief gets gays role

A SENIOR police officer has been taken off frontline duties to look after gay officers.

Chief Inspector David Lyle, 55, of Lothian and Borders Police, has reportedly been appointed the first Scottish co-ordinator of the Gay Police Association.

He is the only publicly-funded senior officer working full-time with minority groups in Scotland's police forces. His £50,000 salary is being paid by the government and all eight forces.

The news comes a day after it was revealed that a Scottish force are using civilian staff to investigate murders and sex attacks.

Gavin Brown, the Tory MSP for the Lothians, reportedly said: "The onus is on the government to demonstrate that paying the money for this role is going to have an effect on cutting crime."

Lyle, from Edinburgh, became the first openly gay Scottish officer in 1990.