A police department in the United Kingdom will soon roll out gender-neutral uniforms for their cops.
Until now, Dyfed-Powys’s male police officers (in Wales) have worn ties, while its female officers wore cravats. The department’s uniform policy also addressed female officers’ nail polish and male officers’ hair length. All of these are “unnecessary differentiations,” the police department’s Gender Identity Working Group concluded.
The new gender-neutral uniforms would remove “a barrier to Trans people accessing employment with the Police” and prevent officers from having “to ‘out’ themselves by justifying the request for an additional uniform,” the working group said.
“As a Force, we have learnt that there may have been times when our practices and procedures have impacted our Trans communities and their engagement with us,” said the assistant chief constable, Liane James. “This isn’t right. … I am pleased to confirm that we have committed to all 18 recommendations made by the Gender Identity Working Group.”
Those recommendations include the introduction of gender-neutral changing rooms, bathrooms and even jail cells.
The working group also urged the police department to update its technology, developing systems where officers, victims, witnesses, suspects and criminals can be recorded with “non-binary genders and titles.”
Police officers should also receive training about transgender issues and the use gender-neutral language, the working group said.
