Dozens of police officers are being given special training as part of a crackdown on hate crime in Scotland.

Around 60 officers are being trained by the Equality Network to become lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) liaisons for Police Scotland.

Part of their new role will include advising other officers on issues which affect the LGBTI community.

Superintendent Davie Duncan said: “Tackling hate crime is a priority for Police Scotland. Studies show hate crime against the LGBTI community is often under-reported and we hope these specially-trained officers will encourage more people to come forward to help reverse this trend.”

Police Scotland was recently named Scotland’s most improved employer by LGBT organisation Stonewall.

The force moved up from 119th place to 83rd in Stonewall’s 100 UK Workplace Equality Index this year.

Fergus McMillan, chief executive of LGBT Youth Scotland added: "Verbal abuse and violent crime is still a reality for many LGBTI people. Our recent safety report highlighted that around half of all LGBT respondents would not fell confident reporting a crime to police and only 50% said that they were aware of what their rights are under hate crime legislation."

The Equality Network’s Scott Cuthbertson said: “We know too many LGBTI people are the victims of hate crime, but we also know that many still do not report hate crimes. We want to change that.”