Child Q: 15 year old girl strip searched by police in Hackney

[nettie434]

The Metropolitan Police have apologised for strip searching a 15 year old girl at school because she was thought to possess cannabis.

www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2022/03/16/met-police-apologise-after-black-teenage-girl-strip-searched-at-school/

The review concluded racism played a part in her treatment as the girl was black. Other reports have said she was on her period. Her family have said she has changed after this and has self harmed.

I really can't imagine how they could ever have thought this a justifiable action.

I'm a police officer and I cannot fathom for the life of me what they were thinking. It's so far removed from good practice as to be on a totally different planet.

There is a good discussion about this in AIBU.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4505888-This-is-just-shocking-trigger-warning-racism

It's horrifying isnt it? The Met are out of control

There needs to be an over haul of the whole system of strip searches, which are clearly in some cases being abused, and there needs to be a clear set of penalties for abusing them which are consistently enforced. This was an illegal strip search, if I did something illegal in my job i wouldat the very least be sacked

I think they should be charged.

Surely it’s assault?

Thanks for the link ScreamingMeMe. I'll take a look at that.

@Toomanyradishes

There needs to be an over haul of the whole system of strip searches, which are clearly in some cases being abused, and there needs to be a clear set of penalties for abusing them which are consistently enforced. This was an illegal strip search, if I did something illegal in my job i wouldat the very least be sacked

I totally agree. It seems like a licence to abuse and humiliate at the moment.

There are protests/march being organised this weekend in Hackney

twitter.com/millionwomen/status/1504443635361800195?s=21

Let’s be clear on what “strip search” means as well - I think of it as a more thorough sort of frisking, but she was literally naked and told to bend over and spread her buttocks apart to give them a good view. I’d consider that to be child abuse. My brother is a police officer (different force) and is appalled. Seems like the met has massive problems.

[quote Cwenthryth]There are protests/march being organised this weekend in Hackney

twitter.com/millionwomen/status/1504443635361800195?s=21[/quote]
Good. Let's hope the police treat the protesters better than they have previously.

I saw this headline but didn't know full details until yesterday.

It's disgusting and now we need to sit our children down and explain this all to them. Especially the young black girls terrified to go to school.

I saw on twitter that Ian Wright, Rochelle Humes and Leigh Anne Pinnock are among those accusing the Met of endemic racism. They are not known for being especially 'political' so I hope this just underlines to the Met that they can't say this is just the usual suspects complaining.

The other thing I read is that Child Q has seen some of the things expressing support for her and anger at the way she was treated and that this has helped her. I cannot imagine how she must have felt when she was even asked to remove her sanitary pad. I hope that's not too much information for anyone but I did not realise just how intrusive the process was.

It's awful. That poor girl.
Am I right in thinking that this only came to light because the mother (quite rightly) "made a fuss"?
None of the many adults present (police officers and teachers) thought to intervene, or question whether it was right for the strip search to go ahead (without calling the girls mother, and based solely because someone thought they smelled cannabis!) So how many other times has this happened? Is it really a one off?

I want her teachers sacked and never allowed in positions of power over vulnerable people/children again and criminal charges brought against the police officers. This is abhorrent and heartbreaking at the same time. I’m so angry for her.

There are so many safeguarding procedures in place for colleagues at my school to search a BAG if they suspect contraband gfor both theirs and the student's protection.

As pp have said, I cannot believe ANY of the adults present DIDN'T stop and think that this was anywhere close to OK. And if they didn't hesitate, and speak out in defence of the girl, and to raise safeguarding concerns, then yes, they should all be sacked and prosecuted as seriously as possible.

Isn't it time cannabis was legalised or decriminalised? The "war on drugs" doesn't seem to have worked well and lots of countries and US states are now moving away from criminalisation.

It would appear it's giving police officers who may be racist an excuse to cause trouble for young black people.

The police officers were from Stoke Newington Police station. The same station that Dr Duff was strip searched in. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/feminism/4462560-Met-apologise-for-sexist-derogatory-language-when-searching-woman

They've really fucking outdone themselves in terms of cuntishness with what they did to Child Q.

I was subject to similar treatment when I was 15 (c.20yrs ago) albeit not on school grounds, and I am white. I’m not disputing this incident was nothing to do with race, just more that in my experience it’s been a broader and longstanding pattern of behaviour when dealing with female minors rather than a recent one-off perpetrated by racist individuals, and thus limiting the scope of culpability more systematically.

Not implying* (rather than not disputing(!))

The Child Q case was definitely racist. The Met is racist as well as misogynistic, double whammy for black and brown women and girls. It is sickening.

I honestly think the police officers and the teachers involved should be sacked and put on the child sex offenders register for this.

There is absolutely no excuse and the teachers enabled this to happen, knowing that this child was being sexually abused in their care. They should all be on the register.

I’m so sorry to hear that @Eloise666 that’s absolutely horrific.

Agree with PP that the teachers/school staff and the police involved should be prosecuted and sacked. I’m completely mystified as to how anyone in their right mind would allow even a fraction of this to happen.