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One child strip searched every 14 hours as commissioner says police searches 'taking place in chicken shops'
19 August 2024, 09:31 | Updated: 19 August 2024, 10:06
A new report has revealed that one child is strip searched every 14 hours in England - as it emerged that police have failed to record an appropriate adult in almost half of searches.
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The shocking figures have been revealed in a report released by the Children's Commissioner, with data showing 3,368 strip searches of children took place between January 2018 and June 2023 in England and Wales
Speaking with Tom Swarbrick on LBC, Dame Rachel de Souza revealed: "I've heard of strip searches taking place in chicken shops and outside of parks."
"I was really shocked," she continued, adding: "the police are not keeping their own rules".
The new data shows that 457 of those strip searches took place over the last 12 months.
But Dame de Souza's report also showed the number of strip searches on children - described as those exposing a persons intimate parts - was 42% lower than in 2022 than it was in 2020.
Watch Again: Tom Swarbrick is joined by England's Children's Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza
It comes as the Children's Commissioner said that police forces have a "big job" on their hands where adopting a safeguarding-first approach towards children and young people is concerned.
According to the figures, black children are four times more likely to be searched than their white cohorts.
It's a shift previous figures which shows that between 2018-22, black children were six times more likely to be strip searched than white students.
Between July 2022 and June 2023 an appropriate adult could not be confirmed present in 39% of all searches undertaken, according to the new figures.
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Speaking with Dame de Souza, Tom Swarbrick was audibly shocked, asking how accurate that was.
"A few years ago there was an example of one in view of one, yes," she confirmed.
Claiming the figures are "much better now" since Freedom of Information Requests (FOI) revealed the data and allowed it to be published, she added that the numbers remain "deeply concerning".
Figures also show that no adult - generally a parent of guardian - was present in 6% of cases.
25% of strip searches undertaken on children "were done on under-15s" she revealed.
Adding that "88% of searches are done on suspicion of drugs", with the remainder conducted on the "suspicion of having weapons.
The figures follow protests outside Stoke Newington Police Station following reports that a 15-year-old known as 'Child Q' was traumatised by a full strip-search by two female Met officers.
The incident saw the child stripped while on her period.
25 children were strip searched in Hackney schools last year - only 2 were white, according to figures.
Her school in Hackney had initially called police in December 2020 after staff thought they could smell cannabis while she was sitting a mock exam.
