No, Dorset Police has not painted all their cars in support of LGBTQ+ community

What is the claim?

An image circulating on social media claims that Dorset Police have painted all their cars in support of the LGBTQ+ community. The image depicts a police car adorned with the LGBTQ+ rainbow flag, with a uniformed officer and another individual posing alongside it. A banner in the background suggests the car belongs to the Dorset Police Department.

The image was shared by several users on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, with criticisms directed at the police for allegedly pandering to the LGBTQ+ community. Archives of these claims can be found here, here, and here.

Screenshots of the viral posts. (Source: Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, contrary to the claim, the image shows a single car that was temporarily painted in 2019. Dorset Police have not painted all their cars with a pride flag.

How did we find the source?

A reverse image search revealed that the viral image was taken in 2019, and the car was painted for pride events in support of the LGBT+ community.

Dorset Police shared the image on their official Facebook page on July 5, 2019, stating, “In 2018, we received 143 reports of LGBT+ hate crime – an area we know is underreported. We hope our pride car will demonstrate our commitment to supporting our LGBT+ community and encourage them to report any hate crimes they experience. You can catch our pride car taking part in the Bourne Free Pride Festival in Bournemouth on Saturday, 13 July. You can also grab your own photo with the car shortly after.”

In response to a user on X who claimed that the police had taken this step with all their cars, Dorset Police (archive here) clarified that the information is inaccurate. They explained, “This was a bespoke, one-off livery for a pride event in 2019. There has been no pressure to 'back down' and paint all of our cars in pride colours.”

We discovered that Dorset Police also posted (archive here) on July 1, 2017, showing a police car painted in support of the LGBTQ+ community, which participated in the Bourne Free parade. In the comments of this post, the officials stated that they regularly brand cars as a way to get messages out to the public against hate crimes and had done the same thing in 2016 as well.

The comment read, “Well this seems to have been much more controversial this year than when we did the exact same thing last year... We regularly brand cars as a way to get our messages out to the public (see photo of our recent vehicle crime campaign which is currently doing high visibility patrols in areas vulnerable to vehicle crime). We know hate crime on the whole is underreported and it is important we do all we can to encourage victims to come forward.”

Logically Facts contacted Dorset Police for further clarity. Kristian Ward, Communications Manager of Dorset Police, informed Logically Facts that the information in the viral post was incorrect. He clarified, “We have not 'backed down to keep the trans community sweet' as the post implies. The photo is from an LGBT+ event in 2019 where the singular vehicle held the branding for around two months to attend a number of pride events before this livery was removed.”

The verdict

The claim that Dorset Police has painted all their cars in support of the LGBTQ+ community is based on an image from 2019 and is false. Only a single car was decorated for pride for two months, as confirmed by Dorset Police. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.