Police feared transsexual chaos
By Barbie Dutter
A TRANSSEXUAL would have brought chaos and confusion to the West Midlands police force if she had been employed as a policewoman, a tribunal was told yesterday.
Supt Leonard Taylor said that her appointment would have created a raft of problems - not least at the police training college. “The accommodation is single sex. Where would we put her? Would she sleep in the male quarters or the female quarters?” he asked the Birmingham tribunal. “Would she carry out the male physical training or the female physical training? Would she take part in sports activities in the female teams or the male teams?”
The 29-year-old Birmingham woman - identified only as “M” - has brought a case against the Chief Constable of West Midlands police after her application to join the force was rejected. She alleges sex discrimination and claims compensation for loss of opportunity and injury to feelings.
“M” passed the early recruitment tests but was turned down after officers learned that she had undergone a sex change operation in 1994. The force claims that legally she is still a man, and she would be unable to perform routine tasks such as searching suspects.
A strict policy in assessing new recruits is that they should be able to perform the full range of force duties, the hearing was told.
Supt Taylor said yesterday that officers would sometimes need to carry out intimate body searches for hidden drugs. He said of “M”: “Although she appears to be female, she is still legally male and that would potentially create many problems. She would be unable to carry out intimate searches of women. Under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, prisoners must be searched by an officer of their own sex. If the opposite were to happen, the search would be unlawful and would be an assault upon the person, which would leave the Chief Constable liable to damages in a civil case.”
“M”, a technician with an office equipment firm, wanted to join the police because it involved serving the community and had good career prospects. Her case is funded by the Equal Opportunities Commission.
The tribunal continues.
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Tribunal decision, January 1997
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