One child is strip searched every 14 hours, according to data in a report by the Children’s Commissioner, with police failing to record an appropriate adult in almost half of recent searches.
The report shows there were 3,368 strip searches of children between January 2018 and June 2023 in England and Wales – with 457 over the last 12 months of that period.
Between July 2022 and June 2023, an appropriate adult – usually a parent or guardian – could not be confirmed present in 39% of searches, while none was present in 6% of cases.
Black children are four times more likely to be searched, a slight change from the period covering 2018-22 when they were six times more likely.
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But Dame Rachel de Souza’s report shows the number of strip searches – those exposing intimate parts – under stop and search of children in 2022 was 42% lower than in 2020.
“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,” Dame Rachel said.
“A much higher threshold should be met before a child is subjected to a humiliating and traumatising intimate search.”
She added there remains “urgent work to be done”, with “too many” strip searches being “unnecessary, unsafe and underreported”.
• There were 3,368 strip searches of children between January 2018 and June 2023 – equivalent to one every 14 hours;
• That rate has dropped over time, with one child strip searched every 19 hours between July 2022 and June 2023;
• Of the 457 searches between July 2022 and June 2023, half resulted in no action, around a quarter resulted in an arrest and 6% had no recorded outcome;
• One in 20 searches between 2018 and June 2023 were not compliant and a further 11% “constituted a safeguarding concern”;
• Black children are four times more likely to be searched, forming 27% of cases between July 2022 and June 2023 despite making up just 6% of the child population;
• Among white children over the same period, the corresponding percentages were 59% and 74%.
Percentage of strip searches conducted per year
The high-profile case of Child Q, a 15-year-old schoolgirl strip searched in 2020 having been wrongly accused of possessing cannabis, prompted outrage when it emerged in 2022.
Scotland Yard apologised after the girl, who is black, was strip searched while on her period with no appropriate adult present at a school in east London.
Read more:
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Three Metropolitan Police officers are facing allegations of gross misconduct over the search, with a hearing date yet to be confirmed.
Responding to the report, Chief Constable Craig Guildford, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for ethics and integrity, said: “If an officer considers it necessary to search a child, this must be carried out in line with legislation, policy, and procedure and that safeguards are in place.
“Work with partners continues in order to inform best practice and to implement positive change wherever it is required.”
