Call me Nicola, says sex-swap police officer

BY PAUL ROBINSON

A SEX-swap cop left work for a holiday as a man ­ and returned two weeks later as a woman.

Sgt Chris Lamb arrived back at North Yorkshire Police’s headquarters near Northallerton in a smart skirt and blouse and told colleagues: “Just call me Nicola.”

The 49-year-old blonde, part of the force’s radio communications team, is thought to be one of only four transsexual police officers in the country.

And one of the other three is also with North Yorkshire Police, who have previously faced a number of damaging sex discrimination scandals.

As reported in later editions of Friday’s YEP, Miss Lamb yesterday faced the media at a 30-minute press conference.

She did not answer any questions, but sitting alongside her North Yorkshire Chief Constable David Kenworthy called her decision a sign of the strides taken in the county in recent times.

He said: “What I think today shows is that the force has made a tremendous change.

“It’s about talented people who have gone through change and yet are still giving fantastic service to North Yorkshire Police.”

Kathy Anderson, the force’s diversity adviser, was also present at the press conference.

She said that all Miss Lamb’s colleagues plus her family and friends had been very supportive of her decision.

“Nicola happier now,” added Ms Anderson.

Miss Lamb, who is divorced, has been a police officer for 26 years.

She worked as a bobby on the beat before moving to her present communications role.

Miss Lamb, whose condition has the medical name gender dysphoria, first told her bosses in January that she wanted to become a woman.

While she was on holiday earlier this month, her colleagues were told of her impending transformation.

Her return to the force was the first time Miss Lamb had started living full time as a woman.

Miss Lamb will wear civilian clothes at work for the first month of her new life before switching to a female uniform.

The other transsexual officer with North Yorkshire Police is currently completing her training.

She joined the force in May after serving with the police in Scotland and made the switch from male to female around five years ago.

• In February 1999 Lyn Smith, a former chief inspector with North Yorkshire Police, accepted a £20,000 out-of-court settlement after winning a sex discrimination case.

And three years before the force paid former detective constable Libby Ashurst more than £100,000 over harassment by male colleagues at Harrogate police station in the early 1990s.

Copyright © 2001 Yorkshire Post Newspapers