Two Metropolitan Police officers committed gross misconduct during the strip search of a 15-year-old schoolgirl wrongly suspected of possessing cannabis, a misconduct hearing has found.
PCs Kristina Linge, Victoria Wray and Rafal Szmydynski conducted the search of the black girl, known as Child Q, with no appropriate adult present at a school in Hackney, east London, in 2020.
Scotland Yard apologised, and the Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, described the case as “shocking” after details of the incident emerged in 2022.
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PCs Linge, Wray and Szmydynski suspected the girl was in possession of cannabis, but the police watchdog later determined no drugs were found in her bags or outer clothing.
At a police misconduct hearing in London today, Linge and Szmydytnski were found to have committed gross misconduct. They could potentially be dismissed when the sanctions are decided.
Wray was cleared of gross misconduct, but found to have committed misconduct.
The panel found she became involved in a “situation where the decision had been decided already”.
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The case of Child Q drew outrage when it first came to light in March 2022 and sparked protests.
The officers had been accused of treating Child Q differently due to her race, but Commander Jason Prins, chair of the misconduct panel, said: “We do not draw any inference that race was an effective cause of this incident.”
The panel found concerns about drugs and potential gang involvement were initially raised by school staff.
“Like many cases where stop and search is used, here the subject of the search was identified to police officers by other professionals rather than being by officers in the street,” Commander Prins added.
He said the problem was with the decision to conduct the strip search in the first place, finding it was “unnecessary” and “disproportionate”.
“There should never have been a strip search in these circumstances,” he said, accepting Child Q found it “humiliating and degrading”.
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The panel did not find any officer breached professional behaviour standards relating to equality and diversity, or honesty and integrity.
During the misconduct case, the three officers gave evidence, and each said they were not influenced by subconscious bias.
Luke Ponte, for Linge, said they happened to be “three immigrant officers” who were “trying to do their best to their adopted country” as they were seeking to solve a problem.
Mr Ponte said: “These officers must not bear the entire weight of Child Q where there has been wider dysfunction as to how this came about.”
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Breaches of the Met’s standards of professional behaviour found to amount to gross misconduct can lead to dismissal or a final written warning, according to the IOPC.
A fourth officer will face a disciplinary meeting at a later date relating to no appropriate adult being present during the search. This is separate to this misconduct hearing and it’s a lower level of discipline.
Commander Kevin Southworth, on behalf of the force, said in a statement after the verdict: “The experience of Child Q should never have happened and was truly regrettable.
“We have sincerely apologised to Child Q since this incident happened. Again, I am deeply sorry to Child Q and her family for the trauma that we caused her, and the damage this incident caused to the trust and confidence Black communities across London have in our officers.
“While the officers involved did not act correctly, we acknowledge there were organisational failings. Training to our officers around strip search and the type of search carried out on Child Q was inadequate, and our oversight of the power was also severely lacking.
“This left officers, often young in service or junior in rank, making difficult decisions in complex situations with little information, support or clear resources to help their decision-making.
“What happened to Child Q was a catalyst for change both for the Met and for policing nationally.
“While we should not have needed an incident such as Child Q to check our approach, it has absolutely led us to improving our processes and significantly reducing the number of these types of searches carried out.
“It’s crucial we get this right to ensure the impact on young people is minimised as far as possible.
“Sadly, we know there are children in London being exploited to carry drugs and weapons for others as well as involved in criminality, so these types of searches have to remain within police powers. The work we have done since Child Q means we now have the right safeguards in place.”
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