Police forces in England and Wales have been requested to supply knowledge on what number of youngsters have undergone “intrusive and traumatic” strip-searches by officers since 2018.
Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner, has written to all forces requesting the data after discovering 650 10- to 17-year-olds have been strip-searched by the Metropolitan Police over a two-year interval.
She requested the figures from the power within the wake of the Child Q scandal, the place a black 15-year-old schoolgirl was strip-searched whereas on her interval after being wrongly suspected of carrying hashish in school.
The figures confirmed in nearly 1 / 4 (23%) of circumstances, strip-searches came about with out an “appropriate adult” current. They additionally confirmed that black boys have been disproportionately searched.
Dame Rachel stated on Friday she is searching for additional data from different police forces between 2018 and July 2022 “to reassure myself that these issues are not more widespread”.
She stated: “I firmly believe that a police power that is as intrusive and traumatic for children as a strip-search must be treated with the utmost care and responsibility.
“It should even be accompanied by a strong and clear system of scrutiny to guard and safeguard susceptible youngsters.”
Analysis of the information can be revealed in full early subsequent 12 months, she added.
Dame Rachel has met with new Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, and is alleged to be “working constructively” with him.
The case of Child Q drew outrage when it first got here to gentle in March this 12 months, and sparked protests.
The teenager was strip-searched by feminine Met Police officers in 2020 with out one other grownup current and within the data that she was menstruating, a safeguarding report discovered.
Officers below investigation
The overview, by City & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership (CHSCP), concluded the strip-search ought to by no means have occurred, was unjustified and racism “was likely to have been an influencing factor”.
According to the report, the influence on the secondary faculty pupil was “profound” and the repercussions “obvious and ongoing”.
Family members described her as altering from a “happy-go-lucky girl to a timid recluse that hardly speaks”, who now self-harms and wishes remedy.
Four Met Police officers are being investigated for gross misconduct by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) in reference to the incident.
Scotland Yard has apologised and stated it “should never have happened”.
Source: information.sky.com”