Overview
- Norfolk Constabulary says it uses a detainee’s self-defined gender in custody records in most cases.
- Custody systems also include fields for sex at birth and self-defined sex, with alias information used to link records when official documents indicate a different sex at birth.
- The force maintains the policy is similar to those used by other forces, denies it skews crime data, and says it follows NPCC guidance on searches and cell use.
- Campaigners from the Women’s Rights Network and Sex Matters argue the practice risks recording male offenders as female and distorting statistics relevant to women’s safety.
- The row unfolds against a Supreme Court ruling that sex in equality law means biological sex and a UCL review recommending police record biological sex after missed links to prior convictions.