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A child was strip-searched every 14 hours by police in England and Wales, new data has revealed, with the youngest aged just eight years old.
New figures uncovered by the Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza show the controversial use of strip-searches on under-18s for the past five years.
She found 3,368 strip-searches of children were conducted by all 44 police forces in England and Wales between January 2018 and June 2023.
Her investigation comes after a Black schoolgirl known as Child Q, 15, was wrongly accused of having drugs and strip-searched while on her period, with no appropriate adult present, in Hackney, in December 2020.
Three Metropolitan Police officers face misconduct proceedings over the shocking case, which also prompted the police watchdog to issue calls for a review of police strip-search powers.
In a comprehensive report published on Monday, the commissioner found that an appropriate adult was not confirmed present in almost half of the searches between July 2022 and June 2023.
Almost nine in 10 were carried out on suspicion of drugs over the same period, with just 6 per cent carried out on suspicion of carrying weapons or blades.
Almost half of all searches resulted in ‘no further action’ – calling into question their necessity – and a quarter resulted in an arrest. Concerningly, 6 per cent of search outcomes were not recorded at all.
The proportion of searches conducted involving a child aged 15 or younger increased to 28 per cent between July 2023 and June 2023, compared to 23 per cent in the previous four years.
Racial disparity also continued, with Black children four times more likely to be strip-searched between 2022 and 2023 compared to national population figures. This is down from six times more likely between 2018 and 2022.
The report also found police forces were twice as likely to routinely record additional characteristics of vulnerability, such as whether a child is in care, has a medical condition or is a victim of sexual exploitation, for searches in custody compared to searches under stop and search.
The commissioner said although she has seen improvements in how police carry out and record searches, too many unnecessary and unsafe searches are still being carried out.
Dame Rachel de Souza said: “Two years on from the shocking case of Child Q in 2022, we are seeing some green shoots of progress in how the police carry out and record strip-searches on children.
“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.
“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.”
Assistant Chief Constable Andrew Mariner, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for stop and search, said agreed that a much higher threshold should be met before a child is subjected to a search.
“Intimate searches can be highly intrusive and emotive encounters, and can leave an emotional impact long after they happen, which is especially true in the case of children,” he said.
“I do not underestimate the seriousness of this subject and the importance of the report by the Children’s Commissioner, and it was reassuring to read where progress is being made. However, I agree with the report’s findings, and recognise that more needs to be done at a pace, by both those policing and others operating in this space.
“The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) is working with the Home Office, the College of Policing, and others, to make changes to the codes of practice governing strip searches.”
