Stop and search
Stop and search – particularly powers under s60 which give police suspicionless search powers – heavily impact Black and brown people, including children, and communities. There is little evidence to show effectiveness of Stop and Search in crime prevention. Human rights committees are among those voicing concern.
Rights report on uk
“For children specifically, being stopped and searched can be a frightening and intimidating experience, and perceptions of being unfairly targeted can severely undermine children’s trust in the police.”
Dunja Mijatović, Commissioner for Human Rights,
Council of Europe: Report Following Her Visit to the United Kingdom from 27 June to 1 July (2022)
“‘I got stopped and searched literally when I was about 16, and being thrown around by officers, and almost being goaded into a retaliation, I just remember bursting out crying, not knowing what to do, how to respond’.”
Black participant cited in report
Peter Keeling
Criminal Justice Alliance: No respect: Young BAME men, the police and stop and search (2017)
Rights report on uk
“The Committee remains concerned about the continued use of unnecessary stop-and-search checks on children.”
Committee on the Rights of the Child
Concluding observations on the combined sixth and seventh reports of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2023)
Children strip searched by police
“Our children are being failed by the state institutions there to protect them.”
Runnymeade Trust
Response to the strip-searching of children (2023)
“Someone walked into the school, where I was supposed to feel safe, took me away from the people who were supposed to protect me and stripped me naked, while on my period.”
Child Q, 15 year old strip searched by Met Police
Written statement, Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review (2022)
“It is important that these searches get done to safeguard young people who may be getting exploited.”
Then Policing Minister Chris Philp
Reported widely including BBC (2023)
The strip search of Child Q – triggered by staff belief that they could smell cannabis – was not an isolated incident. Figures released from the Metropolitan Police following an FOI revealed that between 2019 and 2021 they strip searched 5,279 children. The actual number may be substantially higher as these figures only include those children detained after arrest. 75% were from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background.
Strip search of children in England and Wales – analysis by the Children’s Commissioner for England, March 2023
Children as young as 8 are being strip searched.
Black children were six times more likely to be strip searched than other demographics.
52% were carried out without an appropriate adult present (which is illegal). 6% were carried out with officer of different gender present.
Children – and young adults speaking of their experience being strip searched as children – reported high levels of aggression, use of hand-cuffs and verbal abuse including shouting at them, swearing and insults.
Children and young adults interviewed reported high levels of ongoing trauma following such searches.
Human rights violation