The British Transport Police have approved new rules for officers and staff who have made the transgender transition. Under the new instructions, transgender police officers can now strip search women. British Transport Police policy allows newly transitioned officers to conduct body searches of women with a gender recognition certificate. Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice strongly condemn these innovations and believe they violate women’s rights.
Transgender police officers can conduct strip searches of women under new guidance from the UK’s transport police. British police officers with a gender reassignment certificate will now be able to perform body searches on women with the removal of outerwear, hats as well as shoes. In September 2024, the Assistant Chief Constable approved the relevant guidelines, titled “Regulations on the conduct of body searches by transgender and non-binary officers.”
The guidance, which has been reviewed by human rights advocates of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, states:
“Under British Transport Police regulations, transgender and non-binary officers are allowed to conduct body searches of women if they have been issued a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). British Transport Police (BTP) officers will only check people of the gender that appears on their birth certificate or Gender Identity Recognition Certificate.”
A separate document also makes police officers aware of their right to choose their own uniforms, use changing rooms and showers in accordance with their gender identity. And all officers who make the transition get a new account on the police network and a new number on their collar. They can also order a new ID card in the name of their choice. “The individual is not required to provide any proof of name change, such as a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) or related document, other than to pass a background check.”
Cathy Larkman, a retired police officer and head of a national women’s rights organization, said strip searches “require sensitivity, professionalism and courtesy” and should only be conducted by a female person.
“The British Transport Police believe that the existence of GRC gives a male officer a kind of right to strip search a woman, and forces female officers to search male detainees. Their eagerness to introduce this despite clear warnings shows that they have forgotten about women’s rights.”
Women’s rights activists have written to the Chief Constable of the UK Transport Police expressing their thoughts on the policy. Maya Forstater, CEO of human rights charity Sex Matters, called the new job descriptions a “blatant violation of human rights.”
“The Transport Police’s policy breaches this obligation by treating the ‘gender identity’ of male officers as something more important than the fundamental rights of women. Their policy exposes the absurdity of the notion that a gender recognition certificate entitles a man to be treated as a woman in a wide range of interpersonal interactions, including situations involving nudity.”
Now the British Transport Police (BTP) is facing legal action. Campaigners from gender-critical group Sex Matters sent a letter to BTP with a preliminary challenge to their new policy, the first step towards taking the force to court to demand a review of the guidance. Campaigners called it “state-sponsored gender discrimination and sexual violence.”
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice have strongly condemned the changes to the UK’s transport police guidance. The Foundation’s experts demand that the British police withdraw the guidance allowing biological men who identify as women to conduct body searches of women. The Foundation’s human rights advocates believe that this policy violates women’s rights, amounts to discrimination against women, and contravenes the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) legislation of 1984, which requires a constable to be of the same sex as the person he or she is searching.