FOI 1185-2024/25 Gender Recognition Certificate

Request
Please can you advise me what your policy is on the gender and pronouns you use when a suspect/criminal is transgender? My enquiry relates to the recording of crimes and public communications/press releases, not internal HR procedures for police officers. 

Q1. Would the force describe someone as having a gender and/or pronouns that are different to their birth sex if they DO NOT have a gender recognition certificate (GRC)? E.g. if a person born male identifies as a woman but does not have a GRC, would you call them a woman and use she/her pronouns?

Q2. Would the force describe someone as having a gender and/or pronouns that are different to their birth sex if they DO have a gender recognition certificate (GRC)? E.g. if a person born male identifies as a woman and has a GRC, would you call them a woman and use she/her pronouns? 

Q3. In cases of rape, which requires male genitalia to commit, would the force use she/her pronouns and record the suspect/culprit's gender as female, if they identity as a woman but DO NOT have a GRC? 

Q4. In cases of rape, which requires male genitalia to commit, would the force use she/her pronouns and record the suspect/culprit's gender as female, if they identity as a woman and DO have a GRC?

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information
To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police.

I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police.  

Decision
I have today decided to disclose the following information to you.

Q1 & 2. There is no specific policy within the Corporate Communications Team regarding this issue. However, there are only two circumstances when we would release details of a named suspect or offender into the public domain:

• Publicising a court outcome – In this case any publication would reflect what is said in open court.
• A wanted person – In some circumstances we may not use any pronouns and may only use the person’s name. Every case is different and there are a number of factors that would be taken into consideration before publication including any threat and risk to the public and/or the suspect/offender.

Q3 & 4. Please note that we are expecting some updated guidance from the Home Office following the recent Supreme Court Ruling in relation to the definition of a ‘woman’, but in the meantime we are following current guidance in respect of recording crimes, that is “sex should be recorded in line with information on the individuals birth certificate or gender recognition certificate (GRC)”.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.