A black girl who was strip-searched after being wrongly suspected of carrying drugs is suing the Metropolitan Police after a safeguarding report said racism was likely to have been a factor.
The 15-year-old girl, referred to in court as Child Q, is also taking civil action against her school, the law firm Bhatt Murphy said. Scotland Yard has apologised.
The girl said she wanted “cast-iron commitments to ensure this never happens again”, adding: “I know I am not alone.”
The teenager was removed from an exam amid claims that she smelt of cannabis. She was taken to a medical room and strip-searched by two female officers from the Met. Teachers remained outside. No other adult was present and her parents were not contacted.
Her intimate body parts were exposed and she was made to take off her sanitary towel, according to the review. No drugs were found. Staff members at her secondary school, in Hackney, east London, had called the police after falsely alleging drug possession.
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The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) began an inquiry into the matter after a mandatory referral by the Met last May.
Chanel Dolcy, a solicitor at Bhatt Murphy, which is representing the family in proceedings against the police, said that Child Q had begun civil proceedings against the Metropolitan Police and her school, seeking to hold both institutions to account, “to ensure this never happens again to any other child”. She added: “The Metropolitan Police has seemed incapable of reform for generations, and it is difficult to say it will ever change.”
Florence Cole, representing the girl against the school, said there had been “an ongoing correspondence” between the family and school since the complaint was made in 2020.
She said: “This is an appalling, shocking case which illustrates wider problems in schools and communities about the treatment of black children, which unfortunately is systemic; and the lack of safeguarding and the failure to recognise the ripple effects of trauma that follows, long after such an ordeal.”
The victim’s mother told the review that after the search, her daughter had been asked to go back into the exam. Her family said the girl had changed from “top of the class” to “a shell of her former bubbly self”, and she was now self-harming and required therapy.
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Sadiq Khan, London’s mayor, has written to the head of the police watchdog urging it to consider a case of gross misconduct.
However, the IOPC said that its investigation was complete and its report was being “finalised”.
It added that three police constables had been served with notices last year advising them they were under investigation for misconduct “over their roles in either carrying out the strip search or involvement in supervising it”.
Scotland Yard has said that the officers’ actions were “truly regrettable”.
Commander Dr Alison Heydari of the Met said: “While we await the findings of the IOPC investigation, we have already taken action to ensure that our officers and staff have a refreshed understanding of the policy for conducting a ‘further search’ and advice around dealing with schools, ensuring that children are treated as children.”
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Hundreds of people joined a protest organised by Hackney Cop Watch at Stoke Newington police station yesterday.
