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Daily Mirror

National

Kelly-Ann Mills

Worst police forces for strip searching children as young as eight ranked

Police Child Q Dame Rachel Rachel de Souza Essex

More than 2,800 strip searches on children as young as eight have been recorded across England and Wales, with more than half taking place without an appropriate adult present.

The strip searches have been carried out by police forces across the country - although some have not given any data to the report.

The research was prompted by the Children’s Commissioner’s after she made a promise to Child Q telling her she would try to stop what happened to her, happening to another child.

Child Q is a 15-year-old black girl who was stripped by four female Met Police officers after she was wrongly accused of possessing cannabis, last March.

At the time Child Q said: “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 on my period.

"On the 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.

"I feel like I'm locked in a box, and no one can see or cares that I just want to go back to feeling safe again, my box is collapsing around me, and no-one wants to help.

More than half had no appropriate adult present (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

"I don’t know if I’m going to feel normal again. I don’t know how long it will take to repair my box. But I do know this can't happen to anyone, ever again."

Dame Rachel de Souza said the findings demonstrate “evidence of deeply concerning practice” with “widespread non-compliance” with statutory safeguards, and added that children are “being failed by those whose job it is to protect them”.

The research, showing data for forces across England and Wales, revealed that a total of 2,847 strip-searches took place between 2018 and mid-2022 of children aged between eight and 17.

The vast majority of youngsters strip-searched were boys (95%).

About 38% of children strip-searched were black, and the report found that black youngsters were up to six times more likely to be strip-searched when compared with national population figures, while white children were around half as likely to be searched.

The report described this as a “pronounced and deeply concerning ethnic disproportionality” and Dame Rachel branded it “utterly unacceptable”.

Scotland Yard apologised and said the strip-search at the girl’s school in 2020 without another adult present “should never have happened”.

Speaking on LBC radio, Policing minister Chris Philp said he will be taking up the findings of the report with the police.

But added strip-searches are necessary on occasion because drug dealers get young people to hide drugs in intimate body cavities.

“Where they get young people to do that, often it is coercive, often those young people are being exploited, and it is vital that we identify that exploitation so the young people concerned can be safeguarded,” he said.

“Sometimes the only way of doing that is to search an intimate body cavity. When that happens it is vital that it is done according to the codes of practice.

“Dame Rachel’s report identifies occasions when that isn’t happening. That deeply concerns me and I am going to be taking that up with the policing community to make sure those codes of practice are being followed.”

Charities have criticised the findings of the report as “shameful” and called for officer training to be reviewed in order to ensure young people are kept safe.