Have you ever had your underwear searched? I have. The fact that it occurred on September 7, 2020, is ingrained in my memory. A group of male and female soldiers entered my body that day as part of a security blow on HMP Wandsworth’s H Wing. The girls left after the door was shut, and one of the officers asked me to take off my coat, shorts, next boxers. Then, as one of the men knelt down and pointed a torch at my sphincter, they asked me to sit. I was exposed. My legs trembled. I felt a little better when he said, “Sorry mate, I promise you this is worse for me than it is for you.” I believe I yet chuckled. However, I would have felt much more insulted if a woman had been there.
Luckily, the law makes it clear how such searches may be conducted. According to Section 55 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1984 (PACE), a constable is not permitted to conduct an intimate search of someone who is the opposite sex. However, are there any laws that permit trans officials to search captives of the opposite sex? State Sanctioned Sexual Assault by the Women’s Rights Network (WRN) is a worrying report that at the very least suggests that police are unsure of the situation.
I felt helpless. My legs trembled.
The National Police Chiefs ‘Council’s policy paper, which called for the “adoption of a regular looking policy for trans officers and staff across forces nationally,” was cited in the report. According to the report, “trans coworkers may search people of the same gender as their own lived sex once they have transitioned.” This, according to the statement, may eliminate any “possibility work barriers for trans people to think of the Police Service as an
Employer of selection for trans people.
