Hackney Town Hall in east London, Britain is shown. Hackney Council members on Tuesday responded to this month's publication of a Local Child Safeguarding Review of incident where a Black girl was strip searched at school in 2020. File Photo courtesy of Hackney Council/
Website
March 16 (UPI) -- Racism was likely a factor in the strip search of a Black girl in London while on her period two years ago after she was wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis in school, a review found.
Female police officers strip searched the 15-year-old girl, which exposed her intimate body parts, at her school in Hackney, east London in 2020 after searches of her bag, blazer and shoes didn't reveal any drugs, according to the review published this month. The search occurred without an adult being present and with the knowledge she was menstruating.
"The report concluded that racism was likely an 'influencing factor,' in the strip search, and the girl -- a Black child -- was subjected to 'adultification' bias -- where Black and global majority children are held to adult standards, but their white peers are less likely to be," some Hackney Council members said in a joint statement Tuesday on the review.
"We want and expect better for our young people and our wider communities," the statement continued. "It is up to all of us to challenge racism where this is seen, heard or felt -- and it is incumbent on the Council to challenge partners and be a driving force of meaningful, systemic change."
The police officers remain on full duties even though they were placed under investigation by a police watchdog over the incident in December 2020, according to The Guardian.
Metropolitan Police Service has apologized for the incident, which has left the girl traumatized, saying she "can't go a single day without wanting to scream, shout, cry or just give up," and her family saying it was motivated by racism, the review said.
"The incident also illustrated unambiguous issues of importance that warranted independent analysis, not least the potential impact of disproportionality and racism and how these factors might have influenced the actions of organizations and individual professionals," the review 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."
The 15-year-old girl has been referred to as Child Q in the City & Hackney Safeguarding Child Partnership review, authored by Jim Gamble, Independent safeguarding commissioner, and Rory McCallum, senior professional adviser.
The Independent Officer of Police Conduct's investigations into the conduct of the police officers remain ongoing, according to the council.
The review made eight findings and 14 recommendations for improving government, school and police practices.
Along with finding racism was a likely factor in the incident and adultification bias, the review also found the police decision to strip search the child "was insufficiently attuned to her best interests or right to privacy."
The review also found that "school staff had an insufficient focus on the needs of Child Q."
Some recommendations included the school revising its policy on searching, screening and confiscation to include "explicit reference to safeguarding" the student, and the police similarly revising its policy to focus on "safeguarding the needs of children."
The review also recommended that the government and the National Police Chiefs Council seek to strengthen policy to include parents when strip searches are done on children, multi-agency training against adultification bias and support for anti-racism guidance.
The council asked for an updated report in six to nine months of progress made based on the review's recommendations.
