Police Scotland commit to working with women’s groups on transgender policies

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Until there is clarity on how you deal with sex and gender I don't think this will go away Katharina Kasper, Scottish Police Authority board member “The organisation I lead is wholly committed to tackling violence against women and supporting survivors effectively. Board member Katharina Kasper said leadership had been “sorely lacking” until clarification, and she suggested a legal review is needed “because if you are recording gender you cannot have sex-based policies”. Ms Kasper said: “How you treat this topic is more than just statistics – it will be pertinent to whether female police officers will have to conduct searches of people who are clearly male but insist on having a different gender identity to that; it will also be important to respond to situations where women and children feel they are having to deal with a male in a space they would expect to be a single-sex space. There needs to be a way of auditing your policy to ensure it does what it needs to do.” Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs said: “The recommendation I made was a much more fulsome review, to engage externally and to hear views and observations from women’s groups.