Police Scotland’s trans strip-search policy backed by High Court
Police Scotland’s policy on trans detainees allows them to request an officer of their lived gender (Getty Images, stock)
An English High Court ruling has backed the legal principle behind Police Scotland’s policy allowing transgender detainees to request a strip search by an officer of their lived gender.
Police Scotland’s usual policy is for strip searches to be conducted according to the detainee’s biological sex. However, the force introduced an interim arrangement in June 2025 following the UK Supreme Court’s ruling in April 2025 in For Women Scotland, which found that “sex” in the Equality Act refers to biological sex.
Under the Scottish arrangement, a transgender detainee can request to be searched by an officer of their lived gender, provided they consent to the procedure.
As initially reported by The Herald on 11 August, Mr Justice Linden has now endorsed the underlying legal principle in a case concerning police forces in England and Wales. His ruling found that, in principle, a detainee can consent to being strip-searched by an officer of a different biological sex, provided that consent is genuine and the other legal requirements governing strip searches are met.
The advocacy group Sex Matters, which brought this case to the High Court, intends to appeal the decision. The group has argued that female police officers should not be placed in the position of strip-searching biologically male transgender detainees. The organisation maintains that strip searches should be conducted between officers and detainees of the same biological sex and that consent should not override that protection.
In Scotland, a Scottish Police Authority record said that by mid-March, only a single strip search had been carried out under the consent-based procedure rather than according to biological sex. The search took place in a custody environment, and no concerns or issues were reported.
Police Scotland’s current standing guidance is described as an interim arrangement. It is expected to be replaced when the Scottish government publishes its revised Stop and Search Code, which is due in September.
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