Trans-identified male officers with the British Transport Police (BTP) can now strip-search detained women under policies set by the law enforcement body. The new guidance allows males identifying as women to do so if they have obtained a gender recognition certificate (GRC).  

The new guidance comes after backlash against similar policies occurred earlier this year, as reported by the Telegraph. Policy for the BTP states that officers can intimately search those of the same sex on "their birth certificate or GRC." 

The policy was authorized in September by the assistant chief constable for network policing, which states, "British Transport Police recognises the status of transgender and non-binary detainees/staff from the moment they permanently identify in that gender with or without a GRC." 

"This means that even when a person has not legally changed their sex, we should continue to use the correct pronouns and recognise the person’s gender. BTP officers/staff will only search persons of the same sex as either their birth certificate or GRC," the policy added.  

Backlash to a similar policy from the National Police Chiefs Council in the country led the organization to withdraw the guidance that allowed males to search women and girls without their clothing.  

Cathy Larkman, who is a retired law enforcement leader and was the national policing lead for the Women’s Rights Network, characterized the policy from the BTP as "state-sanctioned sexual assault." Larkman said, “British Transport Police think that the possession of a GRC conveys some sort of right for a male officer to strip-search a woman, or for a female officer to be pressurised into searching a male detainee." 

“Their eagerness to bring this in despite the clear warnings made indicates that they have forgotten about women’s rights, or at best that these can be dispensed with. But women have human rights too," she added. "This is state-sanctioned sexual assault and police chiefs have lost their mind bringing this in. They have failed women, it is absolutely unforgivable. It cannot go on.”