Number of kid strip searches by police in England and Wales fall
Child strip searches by police have fallen sharply but safeguarding failures remain a problem, the Children’s Commissioner has warned.
In a new report, Dame Rachel de Souza found that more than 3,000 strip searches were conducted on children over a five-and-a-half-year period – equivalent to more than one per day.
She used her statutory powers to request the data from 44 police forces covering from January 2018 to June 2023.
Dame Rachel’s report shows the number of strip searches – those exposing intimate parts – under stop and search of children in England and Wales in 2022 was 42 per cent lower than in 2020.
There was a ‘sharp reduction’ in the proportion of all searches in London from 2021, with a ‘striking change’ between 2018 and June 2023, the report said.
In a new report, Dame Rachel de Souza (pictured) found that more than 3,000 strip searches were conducted on children over a five-and-a-half-year period – equivalent to more than one per day
But it also highlighted that in almost half of searches (45 per cent), an appropriate adult could not be confirmed to be present – despite previous calls by the commissioner for this statutory safeguard to be met.
With the report coming not long after violent street disorder in parts of the UK, Dame Rachel said there was a need for a ‘culture of trust to be built between children and the police’, given the ‘vital importance of responsive, trusted policing in our communities’ seen this summer.
The latest research shows data for July 2022 to June 2023 for the first time.
Black children across the two nations were four times more likely to be searched compared with national population figures, although this was an improvement on the 2018-22 period when they were six times more likely to be searched.
The commissioner said while the disparity has reduced, the disproportionate number of searches experienced by black children ‘remains a critical concern’.
It comes after the high-profile case of Child Q – a 15-year-old schoolgirl strip searched in 2020 having been wrongly accused of possessing cannabis.
The incident prompted outrage when it emerged in 2022, and has been described by the commissioner as ‘shocking’ and something which should not happen again.
The girl, who is black, was strip searched while on her period with no appropriate adult present at a school in Hackney, east London. Scotland Yard later apologised.
Three Metropolitan Police officers are facing allegations of gross misconduct over the search, with a hearing date yet to be confirmed.
Dame Rachel’s report found that, between July 2022 and June 2023, 88 per cent of searches were conducted on suspicion of drugs, and 6 per cent on suspicion of carrying weapons.
Some 457 searches were carried out on children between July 2022 and June 2023 across the two nations, half of which led to no further action.
Metropolitan Police on patrol in London. Some 457 searches were carried out on children between July 2022 and June 2023 across the two nations, half of which led to no further action
New Scotland Yard – the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police. Dam Rachel said: said: ‘I am particularly reassured by the progress in London by the Metropolitan Police, but today’s research serves as a stark reminder that this is not an isolated issue in the capital’
The commissioner said this statistic calls into question ‘the necessity of such an intrusive search in the first place’.
In what Dame Rachel said was an indication that more children are receiving support after a strip search, her report showed the majority of police forces have made procedural changes to how they are carried out and that nearly half of searches between July 2022 and June 2023 saw a safeguarding referral – a ‘significant increase’ from previous years.
She said the data shows ‘some green shoots of progress in how the police carry out and record strip searches on children’ and added that she is ‘cautiously optimistic about the potential to overcome entrenched systemic challenges’.
She said: ‘I am particularly reassured by the progress in London by the Metropolitan Police, but today’s research serves as a stark reminder that this is not an isolated issue in the capital.
‘A much higher threshold should be met before a child is subjected to a humiliating and traumatising intimate search.’
She said there remains ‘urgent work to be done: too many strip searches carried out are unnecessary, unsafe and underreported’.
New guidelines for police were proposed in April, including raising the minimum rank of authorisation for a child strip search to police inspector and requiring a parent or guardian to be informed.
