Met data reveals scale of child strip-searches
Nearly a quarter of the 650 strip-searches of children between 10 and 17 by London’s Metropolitan Police between 2018 and 2020 were conducted without the presence of an ‘appropriate adult’, according to police records.
In 2020, 15-year-old ‘Child Q’, suspected of possessing cannabis, was taken out of an exam and strip-searched in the school’s medical room by two female Met officers while her teachers remained outside. According to the BBC, during the search the child’s intimate body parts were exposed and she was forced to remove her sanitary towel. No drugs were found and Child Q’s parents were not informed of the search.
Following the incident, the UK Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, requested that Scotland Yard release figures regarding the prevalence of strip-searches of children.
According to those figures, 650 children underwent ‘intrusive and traumatising’ strip-searches between 2018 and 2020.
Of those, 95% were boys and 58% of the boys searched were black. Overall, 53% of searches resulted in no further action.
The figures also revealed that in 23% of cases no ‘appropriate adult’ was present.
UK law says that when officers strip-search a child, they are required to ensure there is an ‘appropriate adult’ present, except in cases where there is urgent risk of harm. An appropriate adult is taken to mean a child’s parent, guardian, social worker or carer.
For its part, the Metropolitan Police said it has made changes. A police spokesperson said: ‘We have ensured our officers and staff have a refreshed understanding of the policy for conducting a “further search”, particularly around the requirement for an appropriate adult to be present.’
However, Dame Rachel remains ‘unconvinced’ that the Met ‘is consistently considering children’s welfare and wellbeing’.
The Children’s Commissioner said that she has submitted the data to Baroness Louise Casey who is busy reviewing the Met’s standard of policing.
The commissioner also revealed that her team will request comparable data from police forces across England.
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