Police powers and children – strip searching and use of force

Few issues have defined my tenure as Children’s Commissioner so sharply as the strip searching of children by police.

As a former teacher and headteacher of 30 years, I thought I was hardened to the vast spectrum of failures in children’s rights, but the case of Child Q in Hackney five years ago shocked me to the core.

Child Q was 15 when she was strip searched at school while on her period. Her case was so upsetting that in 2021 I set out to look into the data around strip searching to assure myself that it was a one-off. It quickly became obvious that it was far from it – and that no-one had previously sought to look under the surface of these headlines.

Her story, and my subsequent data exploration, was the genesis of a five-year investigation, beginning with the police force that searched Child Q – London’s Metropolitan Police – then compiling complete data sets from forces across England and Wales.

By the time the police officers who carried out her strip search were dismissed last July for gross misconduct, my research had already found that not only was Child Q not an isolated case, there were systemic failures in police oversight, a deep misunderstanding of safeguarding practices, and concerning ethnic disparity in the treatment of children – particularly the ‘adultification’ of Black children.

Yet, the narrative around it seemed to be shifting. With each report, the media headlines grew, Parliamentary discussion increased, and the Government committed to action: Better data collection, changes to the codes of practice and improved training for frontline officers.

On top of that, storytelling played a powerful role in shining a light on this issue. Last Easter, 2.8 million television viewers watched a teenage character on the soap opera Eastenders being strip-searched. The search portrayed was legal and permitted in line with the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) codes – but just like the thousands of real-life searches, too many of which are not carried out within the rules, it was humiliating and distressing.

This can have long term impacts on vulnerable children seeking help from police when they need it. I will never forget what a young adult told me about his experience of being strip-searched by police:

“They told me to get naked. They told me to bend over… I think there were about three officers present… The police never really looked mortified at doing it… It almost felt a bit of a joke to them… From that really was just a terrible start of a relationship with the police.” – Young man, 19, with experience of being strip searched by police as a child.

For too many children, these are not fictional storylines. They remain a reality, even as numbers fall overall and practices improve. By the time I published my last research in 2024, signs of positive change were noticeable: The number of strip searches carried out on children was declining, ethnic disparities were less pronounced, and procedural changes were being made in most police forces.

But acknowledging progress does not mean becoming complacent. 

It’s why I have continued gathering the data from police forces on strip searching once again this year, to continue shining a light on the practice until I see concrete and irreversible evidence of meaningful change.

That means a permanent fall in the number of children being subjected to these searches, better adherence to safeguarding protocols across every police force, and an end to the racial disparities that have persisted for too long. It means safeguarding at the heart of every interaction between a child and the police, serving not as an opportunity to enforce power or punishment, but as an opportunity to build trust between communities and professionals. And it means improving the accuracy of recording and transparency of published data on children’s interactions with the police.  

This year’s research offers a reason for optimism; that doggedly pursuing this issue and doing the meticulous work required to uncover the data has led to clear indications of change. There is less variability between regions. London no longer makes up the largest proportion of searches. Searches are no longer happening in schools.

But there are still far too many strip searches happening. Our threshold for subjecting children to this humiliating process – one which could profoundly undermine their relationship with police – must be high. It must only be when there is clear and immediate risk of harm. This report shows we are still too far away from that being the reality. It is still the case that some searches are still happening in public view, or without an appropriate adult present, which should never be happening. And this year I reveal even more concerning findings. For the first time, we can see that almost a third (30%) of strip searches in this year’s data involve children who have already been strip searched at least once before – risking significant and repeated damage to their mental wellbeing, their relationship with the police, and showing a clear failure to successfully intervene with children.

For the first time I have also looked at the use of force in these searches. I am particularly concerned about the ethnic disproportionality as to why officers say force was needed: White children are more likely to be described as having a mental health need, while for Black children the reason identified is simply their size or build. We cannot accept that Black children are subjected to use of force because of the way they are perceived.

I have always been clear that in some, limited, circumstances a strip search may be necessary, but this report reveals how much more must be done to ensure they are only happening when truly necessary, and with all appropriate safeguards in place. Too often, police officers forget that children are, first and foremost children. Their primary duty should be to protect children from harm.