The mother of a black schoolgirl subjected to a “traumatic” strip search by police said the ordeal has left her a “changed person”.
The 15-year-old girl was searched at her school in Hackney by three Met Police officers in the knowledge that she was menstruating, a safeguarding report found.
Scotland Yard has apologised and said the incident in 2020 “should never have happened”.
In a statement, the mother of the girl, known only as Child Q, said her daughter had been treated as a criminal while at school.
“Professionals treated her as an adult. She was searched as an adult. Is it because of her skin? Her hair? Why her? My daughter is a changed person. We try to reassure her but looking to the future, we can’t say she will ever recover,” she said.
Her family strongly believe the strip search was a racist incident, and the review by the City & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership found her experiences are “unlikely to have been the same” had she not been black.
In a written statement to the review, the girl said: “On top of preparing for the most important exams of my life, I can’t go a single day without wanting to scream, shout, cry or just give up”.
She added: “All the people that allowed this to happen need to be held responsible. I was held responsible for a smell ... but I’m just a child.
“The main thing I need is space and time to understand what has happened to me and exactly how I feel about it and getting past this exam season.”
She said: “I need to know that the people who have done this to me can’t do it to anyone else ever again, in fact so no one else can do this to any other child in their care.”
The girl added: “Someone walked into the school, where I was supposed to feel safe, took me away from the people who were supposed to protect me and stripped me naked, while I was on my period.”
The Independent Office for Police Conduct’s (IOPC), which started investigating following a complaint in May 2021, said it has completed its investigation and is finalising its report.
IOPC regional director Sal Naseem said: “We recognise the seriousness of this case and the concern it has caused in the community following the publication of the Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review into this incident.
“We have now completed all lines of inquiry for our investigation and we are close to finalising our report. We will look to conclude decision making around that at the earliest opportunity.”
