Women treated like meat and subjected to unjustified strip searches in police custody, damning report finds

Women and girls have been treated like meat and subjected to unjustified strip searches in police custody, according to a damning new report.

The review into Greater Manchester Police (GMP), carried out by the former victims’ commissioner for England and Wales, Dame Vera Baird KC, follows reports that three women had accused the police force of unjustified strip searches after being arrested.

Dame Vera interviewed more than 15 people who had been arrested and detained by Greater Manchester Police as she called for strip searching to be severely limited, properly regulated and fully recorded. One former GMP detective told The Independent that the the contents of the review are “explosive”.

In recalling her strip search, a woman given the name Maria to maintain her anonymity, told the inquiry: “The only reason they did what they did was to degrade me ... If I was a man, I don’t think they would’ve done it. I was treated like a piece of meat.”

The report states: “The inquiry’s conclusion is that many of these arrests were unnecessary or unlawful.

“In cases at the lower levels of alleged criminality, the balance should favour avoiding both the risk of poor impact on arrestees and the risk to public confidence from such arrests.”

Dame Vera, who recommended action both within the force and nationally, said: “I hope that my inquiry and this report will drive change where it is – sometimes urgently – required in GMP.

“My aim is strongly to promote a way of working in the police that will justifiably engender trust across the population and particularly among women.”

The Independent has previously reported on one woman’s allegations over her treatment by GMP.The Independent does not know whether these allegations formed part of the inquiry by Dame Vera.

Responding to the report by Dame Vera, Greater Manchester Police said in a statement: “We have apologised and accepted the recommendations of an inquiry into the treatment of people in our custody that was commissioned following serious allegations in July 2023.”

Former GMP detective Maggie Oliver described the inquiry as “another damning indictment of one of the country’s largest police forces”.

She said: “Dame Vera Baird’s explosive report reveals a shocking disregard for rights of those coming into contact with the criminal justice system.”

Ms Oliver, who has since founded The Maggie Oliver Foundation – a charity supporting adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse – said: “Many of those arrested were vulnerable women and we say that this constitutes a very serious abuse of power.”

Custody records, detention logs, crime reports, witness statements and CCTV footage were among the documents and data that were trawled through for the inquiry.

Dame Vera has set out recommendations on action over domestic abuse, better custody provision especially for women, improved risk assessment and more humane and dignified treatment of all detainees – as well as a third-party presence in police custody and also on arrests.

On arrests, Dame Vera notes: “It is of concern that in a number of cases in this inquiry where there is a continuing dispute, the police appear to have supported one side and taken criminal justice action – in particular, arrest – against the other party.”

A scrutiny panel could perhaps help if there is “evidence of a wider pattern and, if so, to probe the causes and, if necessary, prescribe solutions”, she added.

The report states: “GMP, the NPCC [National Police Chief’s Council] and the Home Office should, forthwith, investigate the potential for use of equipment such as airport screening devices to eradicate degrading strip searching from police practice as much as possible. GMP could lead this endeavour.”

Nationally, work could be done to see if two levels of strip searching, varying from thorough to intimate with the appropriate go-ahead, could be introduced.

GMP should participate in this work and pilot the model proposed in this report to move this “urgent agenda forward”, Dame Vera states.

She adds: “From now on in GMP, if any strip search is contemplated, the detainee must be asked whether they have something with them they know they would not be allowed to keep, to give the detainee the option of offering items up.

“From now on in GMP, the reasons why any strip search is required must be explained to the detainee by the custody sergeant to the detainee in plain language, relating (a) facts and circumstances justifying it, and (b) why there is no alternative.”

GMP said: “We welcome an opportunity to work with national policing leads to accelerate our intention to cease strip searches for welfare reasons, and to improve clarity and scrutiny around the grounds of a strip search.”

Breaches of the Victims’ Code Rights, which obliges the force to give support to victims of sexual and domestic abuse, were found in the cases of Maria and Dannika, according to Dame Vera.

The victims of the predator reported by Dannika were not referred for tailored victim support, they were not given a crime reference and an officer number, and were not updated on the progress of the case.

She said: “Maria was very badly treated by GMP,” and as a domestic abuse victim she should have had a link to the officer in her case and to a local domestic abuse charity via the 24-hour national helpline so that her support needs could have been met without six hours of telephoning the police to get help.

Dame Vera describes the police responses in Maria’s case as being “on a continuum between bureaucratic and unhelpful, and none of them acknowledges the police obligation to victims” plus the strip search custody record note does not refer to the power under which it was carried out.

Chief Constable Stephen Watson of GMP said: “To those given a voice by this inquiry who have not received the care and consideration they are entitled to: I am sorry.

“The issues raised in Dame Vera’s report speaks to a period when our custody system was under pressure, not performing to an acceptable standard. It evidences poor systems, structures, and incivility, insensitivity and compounded by a lack of routine leadership, scrutiny, and individual examples of low standards, poor behaviour, insensitivity, and a lack of care in the face of vulnerability.

“I know some of the questions this inquiry set out to answer have not yet been answered and some of these relate to allegations that have caused understandable shock and concern.

“All cases where allegations of serious criminal conduct are made will always be taken extremely seriously and any instances of wrongdoing will be relentlessly pursued and my track record speaks for itself in exited people not fit to wear the uniform,” he added.

Additional reporting by Press Association