April 2025: Licence to strip at police discretion
On British Transport Police's recent announcement that male officers will now be able to conduct strip searches on trans women.
Dear StopWatchers,
This month, once again Britain’s finest forces are demonstrating their unwavering commitment to public trust through a consistent stream of misconduct, violence, and tactical overreach. From harassing barbershops; increasing use of Dispersal Orders and Public Space Protection Orders; arresting peaceful protesters; leaking murder inquiry details; sexually harassing colleagues; multiple officers charged with rape; police pursuit deaths; shooting a man at Milton Keynes Central railway station; and the death of a man in police custody in Romford, our police forces continue to raise the bar for what they can get away with. After this glowing track record, British Transport Police proudly announced that male officers will be allowed to search trans women.
Accountability is far from our reach as officers have been cleared for the Hillsborough unlawful killings caused by police negligence. The officers involved in the manslaughter via restraint of Brian Ringrose have also not been charged with assault. Meanwhile, an inquest into the police shooting of Sean Fitzgerald has opened and Chris Kaba’s shooter faces gross misconduct proceedings.
In StopWatch news, our Girls and Young Women Research Project findings featured in an article in The Observer on the increased use of stop and search of women and girls. We also shared our project findings far and wide during report launch. Thanks to all who were able to attend and show their support! Keep an eye out for our upcoming advocacy events in parliament and beyond centring the experiences of women and girls of police misuse of powers.
As always, if you want to support the work we’re doing financially, we’d appreciate it! Click the button below to set up a regular or one-off donation.
We hope you enjoy this edition.
Licence to strip at police discretion
This month the UK supreme court ruled that the legal definition of a woman will be based on a binary understanding of biological sex. This gravely impacts the 5% of census respondents whose gender identity was different from their sex registered at birth. The ruling also has a bearing on the lives of intersex people. Despite this, the hefty 88-page supreme court decision document does not mention intersex once. Data from the United Nations suggests that up to 2% of the population are born intersex, and therefore fall outside of the sex binary. This challenges the binary interpretation of biological sex because not everyone falls into the neat categories of either XX or XY chromosomes. Likewise, not everyone has the hormonal patterns, internal sexual organs, or external genitalia typically associated with males or females. In short, many people have ambiguous sex features but are nevertheless allocated one of the binary options at birth, even though they may go on to develop sexual features during puberty which do not align with that assignment. As most of us never undergo medical tests to identify our chromosomes or hormonal patterns, it is likely that much more than 2% of the population is intersex.
The nuances of sex and gender quickly becomes important as soon as this legal ruling starts to impact policy practice. Only one day after the ruling, British Transport Police promptly announced that searches of trans women in police custody will be conducted by male officers (Sky News, 18 Apr). The question that immediately emerges is, how will officers know whether they are searching a trans woman or a woman who was assigned female at birth? If the decision is based on their own judgement of the perceived sex of the individual searched, there is a serious risk of the individual’s right to be searched by an officer of the same sex only being implemented at the discretion of officers. It is not just our trans sisters who are impacted by this policy, but all of us regardless of our gender or sex.
Trans campaigner Ella Morgan raised concerns that the ruling will lead to:
an increase in sexual assault, violence, harassment and abuse towards trans people (The Independent, 17 Apr).
Even prior to the ruling, there was already a harrowing prevalence of sexual assault, violence, harassment, and abuse by officers. An investigation by Refuge and The Independent found that of the 1,124 police officers[1] ‘investigated for domestic abuse, sexual assault, rape and abuse of position’ in 2022-2023, only 24% were suspended (The Independent, Sep 2023).
It is unclear how many trans and intersex people feature in the Home Office datasets on police abuse of powers and misuse of force because these datasets are also based on sex rather than gender. There is good reason to be sceptical of the quality of this data. If the quality of ethnicity data is anything to go by, HMICFRS has raised concerns that the data published by forces is ‘unhelpful’ and that forces need to improve their data recording practices. The Home Office admits that this data is poor quality as it caveats its statistics with the warning that a fifth of all self-defined ethnicity data is absent. We’re lucky if we even get officer-observed identity, as research by Paul Quinton found that: ‘A recent inspection found no ethnicity data in 61% of sampled crime records where victims had been identified’. Where this bare minimum standard is met, the unreliability of officer-observed ethnicity is all too apparent by the fact that this dataset does not include records for the ‘mixed’ ethnicity group. Once again, an entire demographic is excluded from datasets because they do not fit the misleadingly clear-cut categories of white, Black, Asian, other, or unknown.
While we do not know how many of the women and girls subjected to the abuse of police powers are transgender or cisgender, we do know that police powers to strip search are already not carried out in compliance with the law. The Children’s Commissioner found that ‘1 in 20 strip searches of children were not compliant with statutory codes of practice’. The same report describes police violations of provisions on where strip searches should take place, the presence of an appropriate adult, and the requirement to not conduct strip searches in a discriminatory manner. These findings line up with the Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review, which found that police abidance to child strip search law and policy is ‘variable and open to interpretation’. Testimonies in our Girls and Young Women’s Research Project report suggest that some officers do not use strip searches to combat crime so much as to assert their power. One of our 25 interviewees describes officers using strip search as ‘as a punishment’ ‘to try and intimidate’ and ‘humiliate’ her. Another interviewee recounts how officers used strip search powers as ‘a disciplining tool’ against her on 3 separate occasions because she dared to observe police stop and searches.
The crux of the issue is this: research has demonstrated that leaving decisions up to the discretion of individual officers results in widely different practice. British Transport Police’s position on strip searches expands the influence of officer discretion on policing practice, granting them greater licence to choose who is searched by male officers based on which of the binary boxes they decide to tick.
[1] This figure only accounts for 26 of 43 police forces.
Deaths from police contact, cases old and new
Sean Fitzgerald
Sean was 31 years of age when he was shot dead by West Midlands firearms officer K in 2019 as he exited a property. His family continue to demand a full investigation of the officer who shot Sean and the three police forces involved in the Interested Persons inquest. An inquest is expected to be opened soon (INQUEST, 03 Apr).
Brian Ringrose
The inquest into Brian’s death concluded that the neglect by Thames Valley police officers and healthcare staff amounted to manslaughter. Brian died in 2021 following police restraint pinning Brian face down to the floor for 25 minutes and an overdose of his prescription medication. Brian appeared semi-conscious and incapable of speaking but no action was taken. Officers strapped his legs and handcuffed him behind his back, leading to haemorrhaging and muscle tearing across his shoulders. PC Jones was fired and PC Simson received a final written warning. PC Jones was not charged with assault (INQUEST, 25 Apr).
Unnamed
A 45-year-old man arrested in Romford died in police custody just before a scheduled court appearance. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has launched an investigation. The man was found unresponsive in his cell. He had been charged with an unknown offence (BBC, 15 Apr).
Other news
New firearms licensing ‘transparency’ plan: The Home Office revealed that a new performance framework for firearms licensing is being developed, aiming to improve transparency over delays.
Peers question stop and search powers amid knife crime and racial disparity concerns:
Lords raised concerns over the effectiveness and community impact of stop and search tactics as the Met published a new stop and search charter. Lord Dubs suggested hand-held metal detectors as a less invasive alternative, while Lord Hanson confirmed trials of new knife detection tech are underway. Peers pressed for greater investment in youth services and public health-based prevention, and criticised the Met’s failure to address racial disproportionality. Others questioned the justification for expanded section 60 powers given weapon detection rates as low as 3.7%.
Peers scrutinise protest laws after widespread Met enforcement: The government published a report in December 2024 on how police forces had used their protest powers under the Police, Crime and Sentencing Act 2022, from June 2022 to March 2024. Lord Hanson of Flint confirmed to the House of Lords that in that period, 10 police forces used the amended Public Order Act powers on 473 protests with 95% by the Met and 277 arrests for breaches. Expedited post-legislative scrutiny of the Public Order Act 2023 will begin in May 2025, assessing its enforcement and impact, including arrest numbers.
Upcoming Home Office publication on live facial recognition technology: Lord Hanson of Flint told the House of Lords that details of the pilot schemes carried out by South Wales Police will be set out in due course as part of a wider publication by the Home Office on its approach to the use of live facial recognition technology.
£85 million spent on ANPR systems: The Policing minister confirmed £85.45 million has been spent on Automatic Number Plate Recognition in the last three years.
Police anti-racism pledge avoids accountability on harm and criminalisation: The National Police Chiefs’ Council has outlined broad goals to ‘rebuild trust’, but stops short of concrete commitments to tackle racial disproportionality in stop and search, use of force, or deaths in custody – areas where trust is most eroded. The plan declares a commitment to improving officer recruitment, retention, and representativeness, improving the likelihood of criminalisation, being on the receiving end of police powers and technologies, reducing harm by police powers, and reducing the likelihood of being a victim of crime.
Push for PSPO powers to be in local government rather than police remit: Diana Johnson drew upon a consultation response which rejected calls to give police control over Public Space Protection Orders, citing feedback that showed strong opposition and a belief that such measures are better handled by local councils rather than stretched police forces.
Broad new knife seizure powers risk criminalising the innocent: While clause 12 of the new crime bill is framed as a crackdown on knife crime, shadow policing minister Matt Vickers warns that vague terms like ‘reasonable grounds’ could lead to overreach, targeting lawful knife carriers and worsening community-police relations.
Drone investment raises privacy concerns as police surveillance expands: A £20 million government investment in drone and aviation technology is touted as supporting the NHS and police, while the move further expands unregulated surveillance powers without public consent or oversight (Digit News, 01 Apr).
Surveillance firm wins £2m police contract amid growing tech creep: A Sheffield surveillance company has secured a major contract with West Midlands police, prompting further concern about the lack of transparency and safeguards in expanding police tech partnerships (Insider Media, 01 Apr, PAYWALL).
Football fans targeted with sweeping dispersal powers in Derby policing operation: Six fans were arrested and a heavy police presence imposed during a League Two match in Crewe, with dispersal orders and pre-emptive pub closures drawing criticism for treating fans as a public order threat (StokeonTrentLive, 01 Apr).
Man shot dead by police at railway station amid use-of-force concerns: A man was killed by armed police outside Milton Keynes Central station. While police claim he advanced with a knife, the incident adds to growing public unease over police reliance on lethal force before de-escalation is attempted (Manchester Evening News, 01 Apr).
Met faces backlash over Youth Demand arrests despite peaceful rally: The Met police were criticised at a pro-Palestinian rally after arresting six Youth Demand supporters the previous week. Despite the protest remaining peaceful, police actions were widely viewed as disproportionate and politically motivated (Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald, 01 Apr).
Mayor celebrates Met police funding boost: London’s mayor secured funding for 935 new neighbourhood police officers and touted a record £1.16 billion investment in the Met (London Assembly, 02 Apr).
Drivers fined after Colchester car meet labelled ‘stupid’ by police: Police issued £100 fines to attendees of a car meet under a Public Space Protection Order, continuing a trend of criminalising young people in public spaces rather than engaging with them meaningfully (Daily Gazette, 02 Apr).
Hillsborough families outraged as senior officers escape accountability: Despite a jury ruling that 97 Liverpool fans were unlawfully killed due to police negligence, a 12-year watchdog investigation cleared senior officers of misconduct, fuelling anger at the continued impunity for those in charge (The Guardian, 03 April). Bereaved families are pushing for a robust ‘Hillsborough Law’ that would force transparency and accountability from state bodies after public tragedies (INQUEST, 08 Apr).
No charges for officer in crash that killed Cardiff teens: Despite following two teenage boys (aged 15 and 16) in a police pursuit moments before their fatal crash, the South Wales officer involved will not face prosecution (The Guardian, 07 Apr).
New rules to curb misuse of access to victim data: Draft reforms aim to limit when police can demand third-party material from victims – an overdue move following widespread criticism of officers invading the privacy of those they are meant to protect (Gov.uk, 08 Apr).
Met strips removes officers from schools: The Met Police has removed 371 safer schools officers (Sky News, 09 Apr).
Essex Police leans into PSPOs for ‘anti-social behaviour’: Essex Police has announced that it is doubling down on Public Space Protection Orders (EssexLive, 09 Apr).
Neighbourhood policing framework lays out ‘Respect Orders’: A new performance framework by the government outlines the ‘Respect Orders’ pilot and increased police patrols targeting ‘anti-social behaviour’ (Gov.uk, 10 Apr).
Met rolls out facial recognition in Croydon with zero public input: The Met Police has made two Croydon facial recognition cameras permanent without consulting local residents (ComputerWeekly, 11 Apr).
MPs deny ‘two-tier policing’ in summer riots: A parliamentary committee waved off concerns of biased policing during recent protests while quietly admitting serious gaps in intelligence, poor anticipation of unrest, and structural failures within police forces in their response to the riots (ITV News, 14 Apr).
SVRO pilot in Merseyside results in weapons seizures, claims police: Police say the Serious Violence Reduction Order pilot was a success, claiming a causal link between the ‘several offensive weapons’ seized and the 6% decrease in knife crime and 32% fall in violent crime across Merseyside (Wirral Globe, 16 Apr).
Three charged with manslaughter after woman killed by van during police pursuit: Three men face manslaughter charges after a van pursued by two West Midlands police patrol cars fatally struck a mother of three at a golf club. The IOPC said that officers had ended the pursuit moments before the collision (The Independent, 22 Apr).
New rules force out unfit officers only after years of scandal: Police officers who fail background checks will now be automatically dismissed under new legislation, in what the Government calls an effort to ‘restore public confidence’. The Home Office is acting after a series of damaging legal cases and public outrage (ITV, 23 Apr).
Section 60 watch*
London
Blackheath Common (08 Apr), Chelsea (17-18 Apr)
West Midlands
Birmingham (08-09 Apr)
Thames Valley
Oxford (06-08 Apr), Banbury, Oxfordshire (25-26 Apr)
* This is not a comprehensive list
Stay safe,
StopWatch.