40 The Mail on Sunday September 26 • 2021

Now woke police are

told they need less
scary body armour
PLANS to make police body armour
‘less intimidating’ were blasted last
night as half-baked ‘politically
correct’ nonsense.
Tory MPs reacted in fury after
Government experts asked for help
in ‘improving public perception of
policing’ by redesigning their pro-
tective equipment. The MoS can
reveal that the plan could include
officers ditching their existing
body armour for ‘recognisable
brands, covert armour or modern
By Brendan Carlin
political correspondent
designs that look less intimidating’.
The suggestion comes in an official
‘request for information’ issued by
the Government’s Defence, Science
and Technology Laboratory (DSTL)
which includes the famous Porton
Down research centre.
Home Office sources played down
the idea of less menacing body
armour, saying the real object of
the DSTL’s request was redesign-
ing body armour to fit women and
away from the current ‘men only’
shapes. They also insisted it was
Home Secretary Priti Patel who
had herself prompted the review
after female officers complained
about ill-fitting protective gear.
But Sir John Hayes, chairman of
the Common Sense Group of Tory
MPs, seized on the notion as yet
another nonsense ‘woke’ project,
adding: ‘Body armour protects
policemen from those who seek to
do harm to them. It’s neither a fash-
ion statement nor is it a way of
symbolising the politically correct,
woke preoccupations of out-of-
touch bourgeois bureaucrats.’
He also pointed out that just two
years ago Ms Patel herself said she
wanted offenders to be ‘fearful of
committing any criminal activities ‘TOO INTIMIDATING’: Protective
on our streets’. He said: ‘The police equipment faces a major redesign
play their part in doing that. So let’s
reassure the law-abiding and said: ‘Every time Priti meets female

...and HIV survey can’t ask your sex

A DECISION to ditch a question on biological sex
from official surveys about HIV and other sexually
transmitted diseases (STDs) has been branded ‘mad-
ness’. Two questionnaires administered by Public
Health England previously sought to determine how
patterns of STDs differ between men and women
and between heterosexual and homosexual groups.
But following consultation with transgender
groups, respondents are no longer asked about the
sex they were born but instead whether they ‘iden-
tify’ as male or female.
Lesbian and Gay News editor David Bridle, who
has lived with HIV since 1996, said it ‘will skew the
data as well as putting people at risk’ and predicted
‘a rise in the numbers of those registered as women
with HIV, when in fact they are male-bodied’.
frighten those who are not.’
Ken Marsh, chairman of the
32,000-strong Metropolitan Police
Federation, said the key issue was
whether armour protected police
officers – not how it looked.
He added: ‘I don’t think it looks
intimidating. What I want for my
officers is the best capability of
protecting them. I am not overcon-
cerned on what the public think
they look like. I want them to be
able to come home every night.’
However, Home Office sources
cops, they complain the body
armour is designed for blokes.’
The Home Office said: ‘There are
more female officers than ever.
The Home Secretary regularly
speaks to brave female officers
that tell her body armour is tailored
for male bodies and unsuitable for
our increasingly diverse police.
‘That’s why she has asked for
research to improve the fit and
wearability of body armour so all
our officers can be protected whilst
working to protect us.’