Top cop says transgender Supreme Court ruling has had 'no direct impact' on policing
Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs said the judgment had had 'no bearing' on Police Scotland, which is reviewing its guidelines.
Chief Constable Jo Farrell said she 'sensed the desire' for rapid progress but it would be a mistake to rush any changes.
The court ruling in April stated that the words 'woman' and 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.
In March, police chiefs asked an equalities watchdog – the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - for advice about whether they should allow rapists to self-identify as women, and provide single-sex changing rooms for staff.
Trina Budge of For Women Scotland said: 'The chair of the EHRC, Baroness Falkner, said on Wednesday that organisations should update their guidance immediately to comply with the Supreme Court ruling.
'There is no reason for Police Scotland to be prevaricating and it should be abundantly clear to them that the longer they allow male officers to intimately search female suspects or allow staff to access the changing rooms provided for the opposite sex, the higher their risk of facing costly legal liability.
'Police Scotland is not above the law of the land.'
At a meeting of the Scottish Police Authority in Glasgow, Mr Speirs said: 'The judgment has had no direct bearing on our day-to-day business and there has been no direct impact on arrangements in custody.'
Ms Farrell said: 'I sense the desire by the board to get to the end point of this but there are a number of moving parts and different agencies providing different views.
'We have seen other public sector bodies in Scotland and beyond reacting quite quickly but if we do that, we will misstep and end up in a position where we are having to reset – we do this once and we do this right.'
SPA chairman Fiona McQueen said the process must be done with 'empathy and compassion', according to 'individual circumstances'.
Board member Katharina Kasper said: 'There are a large number of bodies which have been misinterpreting the law and for Police Scotland this is an obvious issue.
'For Police Scotland, it presents another problem – people look to the police to enforce the law.
'Has there been operational guidance that you [police bosses] have issued to officers and staff considering the level of tension and passion that has followed on from the Supreme Court judgment?
'It's a double whammy for Police Scotland, affecting internal policies and how it serves the wider community.'
Mr Speirs said the judgment had had 'no bearing' on the force but it would be producing fully updated guidelines next month.
Next Thursday, police chiefs will hold a 'stakeholders' meeting' for 'further engagement' with 20 organisations including 'community groups and internal staff diversity associations'.
Last year Ms Farrell said the public and MSPs should be 'assured' that a man who commits rape or serious sexual assault will always be recorded as male.
In March, the Mail revealed that this stance, which campaigners said was a major policy U-turn, was not communicated to officers, sparking claims that police may have misled parliament.
Earlier this week, the EHRC said hospitals, sports clubs and leisure centres will be allowed to request birth certificates to ensure single-sex services are protected.
The EHRC said 'justified' inquiries could be made over a person's birth sex or legal changes made to their gender.
However, it also said this could be classed as discrimination if it was not done in a sensitive way.
The EHRC has launched a consultation on its updated statutory guidance on applying the Equality Act.
The guidance is intended to set out how public buildings such as shops, hospitals and sports clubs should interpret the Equality Act.
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: 'The Supreme Court ruling was very clear, and the public will expect the police to be among the very first to uphold it.
'This isn't something that can be kicked down the road.
'The onus is on John Swinney to issue a directive ensuring that all public bodies are providing single-sex spaces for women and girls.'
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