A child was strip searched more than once a day by police in England and Wales between January 2018 and June 2023, with the youngest child being just eight, data from the Children’s Commissioner has revealed.
More than 3,000 strip searches were conducted on children over a five-and-a-half-year period, equivalent to one search every 14 hours on average. Of those, 457 strip searches were carried out between July 2022 and June 2023.
The report published today is based on a new and unique dataset – the first of its kind – giving a complete analysis of strip searches conducted by police across all 44 police forces in England and Wales, including the British Transport Police, between 2018 and June 2023, including never previously published data for 2022 and 2023.
It is the third report from the Children’s Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza in her groundbreaking work to investigate the use of strip searching powers by police forces on children, filling in the gaps from previous research over the past two years since the case of Child Q in Hackney came to light in March 2022 and first shone a light on the issue.
It confirms there are some promising signs of improvement: lower numbers of strip searches overall, and especially in London, the majority of police forces reporting changes to procedures and a fall in the proportion of black children subjected to strip searches between 2022 and 2023, compared to previous years and national population figures.
It also indicates positive moves towards children receiving support after they experience a strip search, with nearly half (45%) of searches between July 2022 and June 2023 resulting in the police making a safeguarding referral – up 28% compared to the four years previously.
However, despite these promising signs and examples of good and improving practice across police force areas, there remains widespread failure to comply with safeguarding processes designed to protect children during these intimate searches, including:
- Presence of an appropriate adult: Between July 2022 and June 2023, an appropriate adult (a parent, carer or social worker) could not be confirmed to be present in almost half (45%) of searches – despite previous calls by the Children’s Commissioner for this statutory safeguard to be met in all searches;
- Reason for the search: During the same period (July 2022 to June 2023), the majority of searches – 88% – were conducted on suspicion of drugs, with just 6% on suspicious of carrying weapons or blades. Strip searches should, the Commissioner believes, only be carried out on children where there is a clear and immediate risk of harm to themselves or to others;
- Location of the search: Between July 2022 and June 2023, 8% of searches were conducted at an ‘other’ location (than a police station, child’s home address or medical facility), with no additional information provided and the location was not recorded in a further quarter of the searches;
- Age of child searched: The proportion of searches conducted involving a child aged 15 years old or younger increased from 23% to 28% between July 2023 and June 2023, compared to the previous four years;
- Result of search: Over the same period, just under half of all searches resulted in ‘no further action’ (47%) – calling into question their necessity – and around a quarter resulted in an arrest (26%). Concerningly, 6% of search outcomes were not recorded;
- Racial disparity: Continued racial disparity despite improvements overall, with black children four times more likely to strip searched between 2022 and 2023, compared to national population figures, rather than six times more likely between 2018 and 2022; and
- Compliance: At least 4% of searches conducted between 2018 and June 2023 were not compliant with statutory Codes of Practice, and the Commissioner has concerns about how a further 11% of searches were carried out.
Today’s report also presents new evidence that between July 2022 and June 2023 police forces are, on average, 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. This is despite strip searches under stop and search usually being carried out in high pressure situations under less controlled conditions than those in custody – so should be subject to additional scrutiny, not less.
Children’s Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza said:
“Two years on from the shocking case of Child Q which came to light 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 traumatizing search that exposes intimate parts.
“This summer we have seen the vital importance of responsive, trusted policing in our communities. We need a culture of trust to be built between children and the police, so it’s vital that improvements continue at pace, with fewer searches carried out, better data recording when they do and for the good and improving practice seen in some forces to be modelled everywhere.”
The Children’s Commissioner’s work in this area has had significant impact across policy, policing conduct and procedure and safeguarding of children and young people in England and Wales.
Her previous two reports in this area first focused on strip searches under stop and search conducted by the Metropolitan Police Service, published in 2022, followed by a national-level report across England and Wales, published in 2023. Both highlighted systematic problems with the compliance with the Codes of Practice in how strip searches of children were being carried out, and evidence of ethnic disproportionality.
In her report, the Children’s Commissioner has made a series of recommendations to strengthen national Codes of Practice for strip searching, improve data quality, availability and transparency and to improve practice and compliance in all police forces. The Commissioner has also called for broader changes in police interactions with children and safeguarding-first approaches.
