Met will give sex change officers a year’s paid leave

Police
officers who want a sex change will be given a year’s paid leave while they
have the surgery.

Any
officer who wants an operation will get 12 months paid leave with 183 days at
full pay as part of new plans by the Metropolitan Police to encourage
transsexuals into its ranks.

A
seven-page document lays out the procedures to be followed if a man or woman
wants to change sex.

References
to an officer’s previous gender should be removed from records, according to
the report and transsexuals will not be able to perform strip searches on
members of sex of their original gender as it is illegal for officers to carry
searches out on members of the opposite sex.

A
spokesman from the Met defended the new guidelines, saying: "We welcome
this policy as it extends the opportunity to an under-represented group to work
for us."

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The
Met took on its first transsexual recruit earlier this year. Currently there
are 10 transsexuals in the 28,000-strong force.

By
Michael Millar