Every child should be safer after an interaction with the police. But for thousands of children – especially Black children – who have been strip searched as part of the police’s stop and search powers, this isn’t the case.
Public awareness of the practice grew with one story: Child Q. The Black schoolgirl strip searched without an appropriate adult present, treated like a suspect by the very adults who should have treated her with compassion.
At the time, many hoped her story was an isolated case, myself included. She was told it was. But my investigation into the practice, and my subsequent research showed she was far from alone.
Years on from her harrowing ordeal, the evidence is stark. Almost 3,400 children across England and Wales have been subjected to searches between January 2018 and June 2024 – many in public view, often without parents or carers being made aware.
Too many children – even under the age of ten – are still being subjected to searches.
My latest research, published this week, presents an uncomfortable truth. Despite some promising green shoots of progress as overall searches of children have fallen since 2020, racial bias continues to influence practice drive numbers – and the strip searching of children is far from being eliminated.
Black children are consistently more likely than their peers to be strip searched by police. And while this disparity had started to narrow in my last report, the trend appears to be reversing. My latest data shows Black children are almost eight times more likely to be strip searched than White children, and around five times more likely than Asian children.
This imbalance persists when looking at the use of force against children. Once again, Black children are overrepresented in the numbers: they are five times more likely to have force used against them by police officers than their White peers, and more likely to have their ‘size, gender or build’ cited as justification for force.
In other words, children are being treated differently because of the way they look.
It’s been my longstanding concern from this five-year long investigation, since Child Q’s story: the ‘adultification’ of Black children, where they are perceived as older than they are, and somehow less deserving of protection. We cannot accept a system that treats children differently based on how they look. Children must, first and foremost, be treated as children.
For all the progress still needed, there are still signs of change – and reasons for some positivity. Schools are no longer cited as the recorded locations of strip searches. Safeguarding referrals that can offer support to children after a search takes place are increasing. And London no longer accounts for the highest proportion of searches – the result of sustained efforts to improve practice at the Metropolitan Police.
There will be cases where a strip search might be necessary. We only need to look at recent headlines of young people committing offences – in Clapham, in the riots following the Southport murders – as evidence that children can and do require intervention from the police. This research in no way excuses genuine criminality.
But these invasions of privacy should only be carried out when there is clear and immediate risk of serious harm – and even then, safeguards are non-negotiable: in the presence of an appropriate adult, with privacy guaranteed, thorough and accurate recording, and proper follow up support.
Too often these searches result in no further outcome, calling into question the necessity to strip a child in the first place.
The primary duty of the police, as with all professionals who work with children, is to protect them from harm. If we are serious about improving trust between the police and communities around the country, no child should walk away from an interaction with the police believing they are against them.
We must not lose sight of the fact the findings on strip searching did not emerge because of a whistleblower or an inspection report. They emerged because of one child’s story.
We owe it to her – and every child like her – to finish the job.
