The Mayor was today urged by Caroline Russell AM to end the practice of strip-searching children except in very exceptional circumstances and with strict safeguards in place.
Caroline made this call to stop the Metropolitan Police repeating the high-profile and shocking cases of strip-searching children that have been reported including Child Q, Olivia, and a third case recently confirmed by the Acting Commissioner of the Met. [1]
Data provided to Caroline shows that strip search is being used disproportionately on Black Londoners. [2]
The data also shows that last year 267 children were stopped and more thoroughly searched with 99 of those searches involving exposure of intimate parts. That is almost two children per week.
However, there are only three mentions of strip search in the Mayor’s Action Plan [3] designed to tackle and address issues around transparency and accountability; two of which are about adding strip searches to the Action Plan Dashboard, which Caroline raised in March and have yet to be actioned. [4]
Green London Assembly Member Caroline Russell says:
Children like Olivia and Child Q are left traumatised by the experience of a strip search.
Rather than protecting young people, these encounters with the police have led to children developing long term mental health issues, including suffering with panic attacks and self-harming.
There have been too many of these high-profile and shocking cases, which is why the work being done on the Mayor’s Action Plan becomes more vital and urgent each day.
The strip search of Child Q didn’t even occur in a police custody suite, so worryingly these strip and intimate searches are taking place in locations that aren’t covered by the protection of the Mayor’s Action Plan. [5]
The Met must end the practice of strip-searching children apart from in exceptional circumstances and with strict safeguards in place.
Notes to editors
Watch the full exchange here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYsdVL6FKPk
[1] Child Q - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-60873858, Olivia - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61523291, and a third case https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/may/30/watchdog-investigating-…;
[2] Figures come from the answer to this question asked by Caroline Russell AM https://www.london.gov.uk/questions/2022/0501
Black people are disproportionately likely to be strip searched, they make up 40 per cent of people strip searched since 2018, but are only 12 per cent of the population.
[3] Mayor of London’s Action Plan Transparency, Accountability and Trust in Policing https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/action_plan_-_transparenc…
[4] Caroline asking the Mayor if he has plans to add strip search data to his Action Plan Dashboard in March 2022 https://www.london.gov.uk/questions/2022/0998 The link to the Action Plan dashboard is here https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/mayors-office-policing-and-crime-m…
[5] The Mayor’s Action Plan includes an Independent Custody Visitor pilot, but the strip search of Child Q did not take place in a custody suite. Independent Custody Visitors - https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/mayors-office-policing-and-crime-m…