P C Skye Morden earned her spurs during 20 years as a Taser specialist and an award-winning public order cop who relished facing the toughest of situations. A frontline cop who has been stabbed on duty – she’s certainly not someone to back off from difficulties. Skye is rightly proud of her career as an experienced West Midlands officer, and her two Chief Constable awards for outstanding service and a national policing Commissioners award. After joining West Midlands police in 2001, Skye was one of the first cops to be trained with a X26 Taser, which led to a career responding to violent incidents and training other officers to use Taser. But after two decades in policing when she thought she’d seen almost everything, last year Skye experienced what she considered to be one of the most terrifying experiences of her life. Assigned as male at birth she had lived as a man for many years – but Skye is, in fact, female.
After bravely coming out to colleagues as transgender she was subjected to a vicious media and online onslaught far worse than being spat at, shoved or punched while in a frontline role. Skye revealed: “I have always known I was transgender, even before I knew there was a word for it. But I kept it a secret for decades – for years I could not find a way to come out to friends, family and colleagues.” It was after she joined a policerelated social media group for the LGBTQ community and was encouraged to write a personal blog, Skye officially came out as transgender. But when this ‘news’ broke in the media the consequences were deeply hurtful, and Skye became the victim of vicious online abuse.
She recalled: “I suddenly had press knocking at my front door, and they had even managed to get hold of some photos of me. My ‘story’ went viral, and quickly went across the globe as far as India. I expected some kind of reaction because of prejudice, but not the scale of what occurred. There were 17,000 posts on two eastern European far right forums alone, but thankfully I had great support from colleagues in my force to help counteract the threat to my security. “To be honest, it was far scarier than anything I’ve faced as a cop. Despite the personal abuse, I don’t regret coming out for a moment because this is who I am. I am transgender with a female brain, who was born in the wrong body.
The support of colleagues and the wider policing family have given her the strength to deal with these transphobic comments. But she admits to being ‘incredibly nervous’ when she first told people she’d worked with for many years about identifying as female. She added: “How do you say to male police colleagues – some of the most alpha guys around – that you’re trans? Initially I was terrified, but everyone has been so welcoming and inclusive so it’s been a huge relief and I feel like I can finally be me. “Everyone within policing has been wonderful and supportive. The first day I trained a Taser course as myself, I told everyone how nervous I was, and they all stood up and applauded me.”
Skye has found many police officers have not met an out trans person before (though statistically, they have likely met a transgender or non-binary person who isn’t publicly out) and thinks this may add to misconceptions. She said: “Nine times out of ten the issues the trans community face with police are simply due to a lack of frame of reference. Perception can be driven by social media, rather than from talking to real people.” Skye is now working to help other transgender officers feel comfortable and accepted in the workplace. She is on the West Midlands force’s LGB&T committee and is working with the Fed on practical ways to help trans members. She is confident times are changing and looks forward to encouraging changes in attitudes. “It is important that as a cop, I stand up and be visible, to show vulnerable communities that we, the police hear them,” Skye added.
One area of concern is around the wearing of prosthetics, and PFEW’s Equality Group is leading the way on this nationally to address this issue. Skye said: “I’ve had officers contact me to tell me they are trans or non-binary. However, they haven’t had the chance or courage to speak up yet.” Her message to those colleagues is simple: “You can be who you are, and colleagues and friends will be a lot more supportive than you think.””
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