Trans officers within British Transport Police can no longer conduct intimate searches of women following a Supreme Court ruling, GB News can reveal.
Guidance to staff seen by this broadcaster said that, as an interim position, any “same sex searches are to be undertaken in accordance with the biological sex of the detainee.”
Deputy Chief Constable Alistair Sutherland told BTP officers that the force would provide “further clarity” once it “had a chance to digest the judgment” handed down at the Supreme Court yesterday, which ruled that trans women are not legally women.
The judges in Britain’s most senior court ruled unanimously that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 referred to sex not gender.
Trans officers within British Transport Police can no longer conduct intimate searches of women following a Supreme Court ruling, GB News can reveal
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In reaction, the staff note from DCC Sutherland told colleagues that if they had been “affected by this in any way” then they can find “support on the Wellbeing Hub.”
The update comes amid a legal battle between gender critical campaigners and the force over its previous guidance that allowed transgender officers to strip-search women.
The policy, first revealed by The Telegraph, had allowed male staff that identify as women to conduct intimate searches of women as long as they had a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC).
BTP had maintained that this policy was permitted under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, but the Sex Matters campaign group said the policy was unlawful and a breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects against “torture, humiliating and degrading treatment.”
Last year, the force faced a legal letter from Sex Matters on the policy, as it broke with the majority of other forces in allowing trans officers to conduct searches of women.
But BTP defended its stance, arguing that it was false to claim that it “exposes women to a particular risk of behaviour.”
It said at the time: “As has been outlined previously, Parliament has imposed stringent safeguards in respect of the ability of an individual to obtain a GRC.
“It is not enough simply that a man identifies themselves as a female to obtain one.”
BTP has been contacted for comment.