LONDON: Police across England and Wales have been carrying out fewer strip-searches of children but the practice is still being overused and failed to comply with safeguarding procedures, a new watchdog report said on Monday.
Children’s commissioner Rachel de Souza in her latest assessment of the contentious practice said the police performed 457 such searches in the year to June 2023 equivalent to one child every 19 hours.
She noted numbers in all of 2022 were 42 percent down on 2020, praising “clear and positive change” in its use. But de Souza warned that the strip-searches, which have been criticized for targeting black boys and lacking oversight, were still being overused and under-regulated.
Her report found black children were still four times more likely to be strip-searched than the overall child population in the UK.
It is pertinent to mention that the 15-year-old black schoolgirl was strip-searched by female officers in 2020 for being wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis. Later London’s Metropolitan Police apologized for their conduct and three officers faced gross misconduct disciplinary charges after a police inquiry.
De Souza in her latest said the strip-search method could only be used when there is an open and immediate danger to the child or others.
The commissioner stressed the need to strengthen guidance around strip-searches, ensure oversight and inspection. The new Labour government has committed to implement new safeguards procedure proposed by the previous Conservative government to improve enforcement of the guidance.
An interior ministry spokeswoman said that “no child should ever be strip searched without an appropriate adult unless there is a risk of serious harm to themselves or others.”
