BALTIMORE COUNTY — Everyone deserves to have a safe space, a place to go knowing they are protected and accepted. The Baltimore County Police Department is making members of the LGBTQ+ community feel just that way with its Safe Space initiative.
It's an initiative started back in November, with only four businesses on board. Now the rainbow sticker titled "Safe Space" is in over 80 windows in Baltimore County.
To some it may just be a decal, but to many schools, organizations, community members and businesses throughout Baltimore County it shows they are an ally of the LGBTQ+ community.
"Sometimes they just need to be taken out of the situation. They can hang out as long as they need to, maybe they just need to call a friend, maybe they just need to get their thoughts together if they need to call the police, want us to call the police, we can do that for them,” said Grant Aikin, owner of Triple Crown Tattoo in the heart of Towson.
Aikin recently added the Safe Space sticker to his window once he found out about the program. Stating it was a no brainer.
Just down the street sits Neo Pizza and Taphouse, which also recently joined. But when General Manager Alex Gost went to check out the decal, he noticed it was missing.
"It is unfortunate that it seems we have lost our sticker. It was a nice enough sticker that it was probably, most likely unfortunately removed intentionally,” said Gost.
He's placed a picture of the decal in its place until he gets another sticker. He says this time, he's spreading the word throughout the restaurant.
Gost said, "It's something I’d like to have displayed in multiple places throughout the restaurant, potentially in the restrooms, potentially on the walls. So, it's not just one sticker so hopefully this same problem that we had can be avoided next time."
Detective Jimmy Waites is the creator of the program and the Baltimore Police Department LGBTQ+ Liaison. He says so far no one has used a safe space and he hopes it stays that way.
"For me I think that's a good thing, I think no usage is what every citizen in Baltimore County would want because in Baltimore County we want every area and every business to be safe so if this program never gets utilized for its intended purpose, I’m satisfied with that,” said Detective Waites.
For any businesses who are still wanting more information about Safe Space, Detective Waites says you can schedule a meeting with him, where he'll travel to you to explain the importance of the program and answer any questions.
Click here to learn more or call 410-887-1800.
