Transcript of Sky News interview with Jo Farrell, Chief Constable of Police Scotland

On 25 September 2024, Sky News broadcast an interview with Jo Farrell, Chief Constable of Police Scotland, regarding the force’s policy on recording the sex of rapists. A complete transcript of the interview is provided below (emphasis added by us). The interview is a useful point of reference, as the Chief Constable gave a clear plain language account of the force’s new position, that supplements the letter submitted to the Criminal Justice Committee this week on behalf of the force by DCC Alan Speirs, the text of which also formed the core of the statement she made to the Scottish Police Authority, also this week.

CC = Jo Farrell, Chief Constable, Police Scotland

I = interviewer for Sky News

CC: So an individual comes into custody and if the sex of that person is pertinent to the investigation, they will be treated as in a scenario of a rape, which is the example I guess was where you’re going, they will be treated and we will investigate them as a man. 

I: So even if they come to you and say, well, I identify as a woman…

CC: Yes.

I: As a transwoman…

CC: Yes.

I: You will continue that investigation…

CC: investigation as a man,  because it is pertinent and relevant to the crime that we are investigating.

I: And so in a situation where that crime is then recorded against that individual, that will be recorded as a rape committed by a man…

CC: By a man. Correct.

I: Even if they continue to maintain that they identify as a different gender…

CC:  Correct, because we’re focused on investigating crime, focused on getting justice and in that scenario it is absolutely pertinent and relevant that the person who allegedly has committed that crime is going to be a man.

I: What about in other cases, in other sex offences which aren’t necessarily rape? In which we’ve seen a number of instances where offenders say I am a woman, I was maybe a man when I committed the crime, but I am a woman. I’m thinking of Isla Bryson, but we don’t need to go into specifics. How does that play?

CC: If the sex is relevant to the crime, then it is pertinent to the crime, it will be investigated as that person being a man because you can only commit that crime as a man.  I’m not going to go beyond that because we get into what if, what if, what if, what if…

I: But I’m just thinking about crime statistics and you’ll be aware of the coverage that’s gone on about whether those could be skewed because of violent offences being recorded as committed by women when in fact they were committed by men who identify as women.

CC: They’re not skewed. We’re very, very aware and we’re very, very alive to those issues. And that crime recording will focus on what’s the relevance of your sex to committing that crime and if there’s relevance between that crime and your sex then you will be recorded on the crime system as a man and the public can be absolutely confident of that.

I: Outside of rape, how is it pertinent in other crimes, the sex of the offender? 

CC:  So if we’re talking shoplifting for example, it wouldn’t be pertinent to that. It wouldn’t be pertinent to that. But where we’re focused on those very, very violent crimes perpetrated against women, then we are focused on getting justice for those women.