Black schoolgirl strip searched by police while on her period
Racism ‘likely to have been an influencing factor’ in officers’ actions, damning safeguarding report says
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Your support makes all the difference.A black schoolgirl was strip searched by police while on her period after being wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis, a report found, prompting fury from politicians and campaigners.
No adult was present for the “traumatic” search by the Met that took place at the girl’s secondary school and with the knowledge that she was menstruating, the damning safeguarding report said.
Racism “was likely to have been an influencing factor” in the officers’ actions and if the girl had not been black “then her experiences are unlikely to have been the same”, the report added.
The impact on the pupil, referred to as Child Q, was “profound” and family members said she changed from a “happy-go-lucky girl to a timid recluse that hardly speaks”, who now self-harms and needs therapy.
Scotland Yard has apologised and said the incident was “truly regrettable”, but the response was branded “reputation management” by Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy.
She said on Twitter: “The Met have apologised to a child they strip-searched after wrongly suspecting her of carrying cannabis. Whilst on her period. Without an adult present.
“Without wholesale reform of the way the Met engages with the Black community, this apology is just reputation management.”
Sisters Uncut, a feminist direct action group, told The Independent they were “disgusted” by the “horrific” incident and said they hope the victim receives “healing and peace from this trauma”.
They added: “This incident shows us that police are the perpetrators of violence from our homes to our streets.
“Students need support, not suspicion - police in schools perpetuate a toxic culture of intimidation, low expectations, and inequality.”
The Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review, published in March, was conducted by City & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership (CHSCP) following the incident at the end of 2020.
It said police arrived at the school after being called by teachers, who told the review they had been concerned the teenager had drugs in her possession because she smelt of cannabis.
She was taken to the medical room and strip searched by two female officers, while teachers remained outside, the review said.
During the ordeal her intimate body parts were exposed and she was made to take off her sanitary towel, according to the report. No drugs were found. She was then sent home by taxi, later sharing her distress with her mother.
Her family strongly believe the strip search was a racist incident, and the review found her experiences are “unlikely to have been the same” had she not been black.
The report said: “Having considered the context of the incident, the views of those engaged in the review and the impact felt by Child Q and her family, racism (whether deliberate or not) was likely to have been an influencing factor in the decision to undertake a strip search.”
In a written statement to the review, the girl said she cannot go a single day “without wanting to scream, shout, cry or just give up”.
She added: “I need to know that the people who have done this to me can’t do it to anyone else ever again. In fact so NO ONE else can do this to any other child in their care. Things need to change with all organisations involved. Even I can see that.”
Councillor Anntoinette Bramble, deputy mayor and cabinet member for Hackney Council’s Children’s Services, and the mayor of Hackney, Philip Glanville, said they were “appalled” by all aspects of the review.
They said: “Child Q was subjected to humiliating, traumatising and utterly shocking treatment by police officers - actions that were wholly disproportionate to the alleged incident to which they had been called.
“This is exacerbated by the fact that the strip search was carried out at school - a place where the child had an expectation of safety, security and care.
“Instead, she was let down by those who were meant to protect her.”
The police must “stop inexcusable behaviours and mindsets in order to properly serve all our diverse communities”, they added.
The Metropolitan Police said the IOPC was investigating, following a complaint in May 2021.
Detective Superintendent Dan Rutland of the Met’s Central East Command said: “We recognise that the findings of the safeguarding review reflect this incident should never have happened.
“It is truly regrettable and on behalf of the Met Police I would like to apologise to the child concerned, her family and the wider community.”
Additional reporting by PA