A new language guide issued to police has warned officers that “language is a powerful tool”.
Staffordshire Police has warned that discrimination through language, whether intended or not, causes offence, patronises, and “may be unlawful”.
The pamphlet was a 12-page guide that sparked disbelief by saying words such as “policeman” should not be used and “police officer” should be used instead.
It also stated to avoid using the terms “girlfriend”, “boyfriend”, “wife” and “husband” and instead use “partner or spouse”.
The pamphlet reads: “We make content gender neutral as far as possible. In general, we word our content to avoid masculine and feminine pronouns ‘he or she’.
“Instead, we use ‘you’ where appropriate and sometimes ‘they’ when we need a gender-neutral pronoun.”
The guidance has been slammed by Tory MP, Nigel Mills speaking to The Sun, said: “You’d think the police have enough on their plate without spending time worrying about which perfectly acceptable, normal language they can and can’t use.”
The guide makes further suggestions for the way officers identify individuals by their jobs, adding that “cleaning lady” should be swapped for “cleaner”, “spokesman” should be switched to “spokesperson” and “statesman” should be replaced with “official”, “diplomat”, “political figure”, or “leader”.
The guidance also covers disabilities and medical conditions, advising officers to try to not use terms such as “diabetic person”, “handicapped”, “confined to a wheelchair”.
On ethnicity, using the terms “half-caste”, “mixed race” and “BAME” are also advised against, with officers being encouraged to “be specific where you can”.
The word bans are the latest in a string of politically correct moves by public service chiefs.
Speaking to The Sun, Staffordshire Police said: “The guidance was produced alongside external consultants to ensure we treat each other and our communities with the utmost courtesy and respect.”
