Commenting, he said:
‘‘The ruling by the Supreme Court was a victory for common sense. The ruling restored clarity in law and reaffirmed the importance of sex-based protections. This is something that is vital across all our public services, not least policing.
It is imperative that the PSNI fully get to grips with the implication of this ruling and make any changes required to its procedures to safeguard officers, staff and suspects alike. This will be particularly relevant to areas like strip searching and stop and search.
It is also important that the Police Service expedite this work to ensure compliance with the ruling. I am pleased that a working group has been established to this end. It should not be the case that the PSNI wait on advice from the Equality Commission before acting.’’