Children as young as eight are strip-searched every 14 hours by police in England and Wales
New data uncovered by the Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, highlights the alarming frequency of strip searches conducted on minors by police in England and Wales. The report reveals that, over the past five years, police have conducted strip searches on minors, approximately every 14 hours, with one record case involving an eight-year-old child.
The investigation found that between January 2018 and June 2023, 3,368 strip searches of children were conducted by 44 police forces across England and Wales. This inquiry was prompted by the case of Child Q, a 15-year-old Black schoolgirl who was wrongly accused of possessing drugs and strip-searched in London, Hackney in December 2020, during which no appropriate adult was present despite her being on her period.
Today I present my latest report on the strip searching of children: for the first time ever we now have a full five and a half year picture of how strip searches are conducted by police in England and Wales, including new data for 2022 - 2023:https://t.co/GDcZw8GtLh
— Children's Commissioner for England (@ChildrensComm) August 19, 2024
This incident has led to misconduct proceedings against three Metropolitan Police officers and calls for a review of police strip-search powers.
The commissioner’s comprehensive report, released on Monday 19 August 2024, revealed that an appropriate adult was not confirmed as present in nearly half of the searches conducted between July 2022 and June 2023. During this same period, almost 90 per cent of these searches were related to drug suspicions, while only 6 per cent were linked to weapons or blades.
Alarmingly, nearly half of the searches led to ‘no further action,’ raising questions about their necessity, with only a quarter resulting in arrests. In 6 per cent of cases, the search outcome was not recorded at all.
The report also noted an increase in the proportion of searches involving children aged 15 or younger, rising to 28 per cent between July 2022 and June 2023, compared to 23 per cent in the previous four years.
Racial disparities were also evident, with Black children being four times more likely to be strip-searched between 2022 and 2023 compared to national population figures. However, this marks a decrease from the previous rate of six times more likely between 2018 and 2022.
Additionally, police forces were found to be twice as likely to record additional characteristics of vulnerability, such as whether a child is in care, has a medical condition, or is a victim of sexual exploitation, during searches conducted in custody compared to those carried out under stop and search protocols.
Dame Rachel de Souza acknowledged some improvements in how police conduct and record strip searches but emphasised that many unnecessary and unsafe searches are still occurring. She expressed cautious optimism about overcoming systemic challenges but stressed the need for urgent work to reduce the number of these intrusive searches.
Echoing de Souza’s concerns, Assistant Chief Constable Andrew Mariner, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for stop and search, agreed that a much higher threshold should be required before subjecting a child to such an invasive procedure, stating: “Two years on from the shocking case of Child Q, we are seeing progress being made. I welcome this shift, and I am cautiously optimistic about the potential to overcome entrenched systemic challenges, but there is still urgent work to be done: too many strip searches carried out are unnecessary, unsafe and under-reported.”
