Training and policy development.

GIRES provides training for:

• The Police
• Other Organisations

For more information about the custom-made training, literature and support for policy development that GIRES provides, please contact Bernard Reed, a trustee of the charity, at:

GIRES, Melverley, The Warren, Ashtead, Surrey KT21 2SP, England
Tel: 01372 801554
Fax: 01372 272297
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.gires.org.uk

The Police
Providing Safety for Transgendered People Internally and Throughout the Community

The police occupy a highly influential role in society and can support transgendered people in two ways:

• ACTING AS RESPONSIBLE EMPLOYERS - SETTING AN EXAMPLE FOR OTHER ORGANISATIONS
• COMBATING TRANSPHOBIC CRIME IN THE COMMUNITY

In the UK, the government requires the police to accept and support diversity among the people they employ and throughout society, especially targeting 'hard to reach' groups. Among the groups now specifically protected by that instruction are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. The position of those who are transsexual has also been strengthened by the law. Amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act protect them in the workplace. The law now clearly protects them against rape. Any crime that is found to be aggravated by transphobia will attract a stiffer penalty from the court. The Gender Recognition Act enables those who have permanently transitioned to obtain a birth certificate that records their true gender and to be treated for all purposes as being of that gender.

In supporting the work of the police, GIRES has already made presentations on gender identity and transsexual issues at training sessions arranged by the forces in South Yorkshire (that involved also a wide range of local agencies) and Essex. For Kent Police, GIRES provided a half-day segment in a two-week course on diversity for training officers. GIRES also presented two workshops at the London Conference of the European Gay Police Association and another at the Leeds Conference of the International Association of Women Police. It has, in addition, made presentations to the Metropolitan Police Service and to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). GIRES is contributing to the development of training materials and policy documents by CENTREX (the national police training agency), HMIC, the Association of Chief Police Officers and Cleveland Police.

Based on its experiences of working with the police, GIRES has prepared a module that could be used by training personnel in their own diversity programmes, with whatever input they thought appropriate from the members of the GIRES team, which always includes a trans police officer. The module consists of a three-hour session, covering the following topics:

• Exercises to Assess Initial Understanding of Transsexualism
• Science, Definitions and Prevalence of Gender Dysphoria and Transsexualism
• The Transition Process
• Discrimination in Employment
• Transphobic Crime
• The Law
• Issues Affecting Trans Employees
• Good Practice Towards the Trans Community
• Problem Solving in Small Groups, using actual case studies:
  • Transsexual Rape Victim
  • Teenage Gang, Terrorising a Trans Man
  • Transsexual Police Employee
• Setting Individual Priorities for Course Participants and Completing Evaluation Forms

Participants are provided with copies of the slides so that they can refer to them later and, if they wish, use them in their own training programmes. In addition, GIRES provides appropriate literature.

Other Organisations

In addition to its extensive work with the police, GIRES has provided customised training, literature and support for policy development to:

• Victim Support
• Relate
• Samaritans
• National Association of CABs
• Henderson Hospital, London
• Maytree Suicide Sanctuary
• UK Council for Psychotherapy
• Royal College of Nursing
• Allied Care
• The Crown Prosecution Service
• National Probation Service