300 police claim sex change

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), May 22, 2009

MISCHIEVOUS police staff caused confusion by claiming they had undergone a sex change, on a diversity survey.

Top West Yorkshire cops were puzzled after their annual survey revealed 300 members of staff had undergone or were in the process of undergoing "gender reassignment".

Senior officers were delighted with the number of responses - 40% of the 11,657 employees took part, including 2,147 police officers, 319 community support officers and 63 Specials.

But among the usual questions about religion, gender, sexual orientation and disability was the question about gender reassignment Of the 4,662 people who answered the question, 300 said they had already had or were having a sex change.

A force spokeswoman said the results appeared "exceptionally wide of the national average" and senior officers were forced to conclude that they were wrong.

She added: "The numbers provided couldn't be relied upon as there were suggestions that individuals may have not understood the question.

"Due to the questionnaires being anonymous, the results couldn't be followed up with individuals. After careful consideration we felt it was appropriate to exclude the data.''