Today, the National Police Chiefs Council @PoliceChiefs released their LATEST interim guidance for strip searching. Attempt No. 1 was based entirely on self identification of sex. Attempt No. 2 was based on holding a Gender Recognition Certificate (which they would not ask to see). But this NEW guidance, while recognising that strip searching must be carried out by an officer of the same sex, still permits members of the public to request an officer of the opposite sex to strip search them (as outlined in Annex L Code A and C of PACE). It is still self ID in practice. It’s thanks to the hard work and campaigning of groups like Women’s Rights Network, that previous versions of the guidance, which essentially consisted of the police deciding to breach the law, were abandoned. However, this new guidance will please no one. Police searches are governed by the Police & Criminal Evidence Act 1984 which specifies that such searches should be carried out by an officer of the same sex only. The law recognises the particularly invasive and humiliating aspect of such searches. Despite references to “trans” detainees and officers (there is no defined category of “trans” in law) and “lived gender” (which remains stubbornly resistent to definition), it’s clear that @policechiefs have gritted their teeth, reluctantly listened to the Supreme Court judgment, and come out with this wholly unacceptable compromise, with the concept of an officer having instead to ‘consent’ to carrying out an opposite sex strip search. Instead of giving ‘consent’ to step outside the law, the police service must comply with the law. Just like everyone else. https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/new-police-search-guidance-following-supreme-court-decision
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