An average of five children per day are being strip-searched by the Metropolitan Police across the capital, figures revealed today.
Data released following the outrage over the treatment of Child Q showed that 5,279 children were subjected to the searches in the last three years.
A total of 3,939 — or 75 per cent — were from ethnically diverse backgrounds, while 22 per cent were white.
The figures show that five children have been strip-searched every day for the last three years, on average.
But the actual numbers could be much higher because the data only covered searches carried out after an arrest.
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It means that the case of Child Q, the 15-year-old black schoolgirl who was strip-searched while on her period at a school in Hackney in 2020, would not be counted among them.
She had not been arrested for any offence.
A safeguarding report into Child Q’s case, released last week, found that racism “was likely to have been an influencing factor” in the officers’ decision to strip-search her.
Sarah Jones, shadow policing minister, told LBC today: “There’s disproportionality across the board. Clearly there is something at play here we need to fix.
“Firstly, for human rights and fairness reasons, but also because if searches are being carried out based on the colour of someone’s skin, that is not intelligent policing.
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“It’s for the government now to ask the question, across all the forces, across the country: ‘Are you satisfied that the way you’re doing strip searches is appropriate?’
“We need to understand the scale of this problem across the country.”
The child strip-search figures were released by the Met following a Freedom of Information request.
It showed that a total of 9,088 children had been strip-searched since 2016, with 35 of them aged between ten and 12 years old.
Child Q was removed from an exam after school staff said she smelled of cannabis.
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Teachers called the police despite finding nothing of significance in her belongings.
Two female officers strip-searched Child Q, who was menstruating, and forced her to remove her sanitary towel and expose intimate areas.
No drugs were found and Child Q’s parents were not notified about the search.
Child Q is now suing the Met and her school in Hackney, east London, over the treatment she received.
Chief Superintendent Marcus Barnett, the district commander for Hackney, said the officers no longer worked in public-facing roles and had been put on desk duties. However, they are still employed by the Met.
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Protests have taken place since a report on the December 2020 incident was published in which it concluded that racism “was likely to have been an influencing factor”.
Child Q’s school has not been publicly named.
Up to 200 pupils at City and Islington College, in north London, walked out of classes on Monday, in protest against its search policy.
The college denied it was conducting “stop and search” checks and said its policy was necessary to keep young people safe because “knife crime is again on the rise in London”.
The Met defended its More Thorough Search where Intimate Parts are exposed (MTIP) searches, in response to the release of the figures.
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A spokesman said: “We work closely with communities in London and understand that stop and search can have a significant and lasting impact on someone, especially an MTIP and strip-searches in custody.
“Every search must be lawful, proportionate and necessary and carried out with respect, dignity and empathy.
“While some may question whether any child should be subject to a MTIP or strip-search, there are occasions when it is very necessary to prevent harm to children who may be exploited by gangs, county lines and drug dealers.
“Used appropriately stop and search powers save lives and are an important tactic to keep Londoners safe, helping us identify criminality and take drugs and dangerous weapons off the streets.
“Officers are highly trained around the use of stop and search.
“Part of the training is around unbiased decision making, unconscious bias and the impact of the use of these powers on communities.
“There is disparity in the overall use of stop and search in relation to gender, age and race.
“Sadly different crimes tend to affect different groups more than others and it remains a tragic truth that knife crime and street violence in London disproportionately affects boys and young men, particularly of African-Caribbean heritage, both in terms of being victims and perpetrators.
“That said we do not underestimate the impact that the use of stop and search has on some individuals and that it continues to cause significant concern within some communities.”
