Police Scotland transgender strip-search policy backed by English High Court

The single force lets transgender detainees request a strip search by an officer of their lived gender.

The interim arrangement was introduced last year after the Supreme Court ruled in For Women Scotland that “sex” in the Equality Act refers to biological sex. Police Scotland’s usual position is that strip searches are conducted according to biological sex.

Mr Justice Linden has now endorsed the legal principle behind the Scottish approach in a case concerning police forces in England and Wales. He ruled that, in principle, a detainee can consent to being strip-searched by an officer of a different biological sex, provided the consent is genuine and other legal requirements are satisfied.

The gender-critical advocacy group Sex Matters, which intends to appeal, has argued, however, that female officers should not be placed in the position of strip-searching biologically male transgender detainees. It maintains that strip searches should be conducted between officers and detainees of the same biological sex and that consent should not override that protection.

A Scottish Police Authority record said that, by mid-March, one strip search had been conducted under the consent procedure rather than according to biological sex. The search took place in a custody environment and no concerns or issues were reported.

Police Scotland’s interim guidance, introduced in June last year, is expected to be replaced when the Scottish government publishes its revised Stop and Search Code, which is due in September.