A Lanarkshire police officer is swapping one black uniform for another for the next few weeks as she prepares to keep order at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Kylie Cockburn, whose day job is in community policing, based at Bellshill police office, is the only Scottish representative on the officiating team at the tournament, which is taking place in France.

The 30 year old's first tasking at the tournament is as assistant referee for Brazil versus Jamaica on Sunday June 9 in Grenoble and she’ll find out her other duties as the competition progresses.

PC Cockburn said: “This Women’s World Cup will be the biggest and most enjoyable experience of my refereeing career. I’ve been involved in the FIFA World Cup programme for the last three years to be able to officiate in FIFA events, and this has involved a lot of training camps and a lot of time away from police duties. Without the support of management, and my immediate peers, I wouldn’t have been able to be involved in this World Cup.

With 11 years’ police service under her belt, and nine years’ experience as a referee, Kylie says policing and refereeing have both benefited the other. She said: “The training I received at the Scottish Police College, Tulliallan, has been a massive help in my career as a referee. The skills I use on a day-to-day basis as an officer, including de-escalation techniques, have helped me deal with players on the pitch, as well as managers, who may not be happy with results of incidents which have taken place during the match. I don’t think I would have got this far as a referee if it wasn’t for the training and experiences I’ve had throughout my career with Police Scotland.”

Kylie, whose husband was also a football referee, first got interested in football when she was at primary school, and played with Hibs in the Women’s Premier League before focusing on officiating the game. She is now involved with the Scottish Premiership, Scottish Championship, League 1 and 2 as an Assistant Referee, and recently presided over Celtic v Hearts with an attendance of 58,000 fans.

And although PC Cockburn will be unable to officiate a match involving the Scotland women’s team, she is wishing Shelley Kerr’s players the very best of luck and hopes both she and the team are there until the very end of the tournament.