‘A scandal waiting to happen’: Trans-inclusive police warrant cards policy

Multiple police forces across Britain are allowing officers to carry warrant cards matching their ‘preferred gender’, it has been revealed.

If an officer says they are transgender, they can be issued an ID matching their chosen identity, while those who identify as gender-fluid, or are hiding their gender-confusion, can be allowed to possess both male and female-specifying warrant cards, solely on the basis of self-identification.

At least eleven forces in England and Wales, as well as Police Scotland, are operating the policy, with individual forces currently able to decide their own rules. Two-thirds of forces also allow men who identify as women to use women’s facilities such as toilets and changing rooms.

Put safety first

Norfolk police has a Trans Equality at Work (Officers and Staff) policy which states: “All trans individuals are entitled to use the toilet, shower and changing facilities appropriate to their gender identity. Where this does not fit a binary definition of gender, the individual is able to choose where they feel most comfortable”.

Chris Philp, the Shadow Home Secretary, stated: “Biological males should under no circumstances be using female facilities – in police stations or anywhere else. The government must review this approach and put the safety of women first.”

Maya Forstater, Executive Director of women’s rights group Sex Matters, said it is “a scandal waiting to happen”, adding: “Allowing any man – whatever he calls himself and whatever he is wearing – to walk into women’s showers, changing rooms and toilets, or to search, including strip search, women is a violation of women’s dignity and an abuse of power.

“Female police officers, suspects and victims should be given respect and protected from abuse, but instead police forces are using them as props to validate trans-identifying male officers. Police forces carrying out these policies are engaging in state-sponsored harassment and sexual assault.”

Women silenced

Cathy Larkman, National Policing Lead for the Women’s Rights Network, called these policies “misogyny writ large”. She said: “It’s reprehensible that policewomen are expected to change and shower in the presence of male officers and staff.”

The retired police superintendent said: “I’m told time and again by serving female officers and staff that they are either silenced or their views dismissed totally. They haven’t been asked whether they consent to this intrusion on their basic human rights, they are simply meant to comply and shut up.

“Police chiefs care more about slavish adherence to gender ideology than the privacy, dignity and safety of their own officers and staff. That is utterly shameful.”

Met Police

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “At present there is no formal policy in place for transgender and gender diverse staff and officers. The policy is currently in early development stages”.

But former Met officer Steve Perkins shared how his wife, who served for 15 years as a civilian staff member, was personally affected when a man who began identifying as a woman walked in on her changing in a police facility, leaving her feeling “violated”.

Perkins explained that the Met policy “was for the individual who chooses to identify as a specific gender, or no gender, to choose which facility they felt most comfortable using. This didn’t require anything more than them deciding themselves,” and said: “I have a strong view that this is wrong.”

Peter Bleksley, a retired undercover Met detective, concluded: “It’s all outrageous and putting women at risk. Woke nonsense ideology gone mad.”