A number of hundred kids had been subjected to strip searches in London over the past two years, newly launched figures reveal.
Knowledge reveals that 650 kids aged 10 to 17 underwent the follow between 2018 and 2020.
Dame Rachel de Souza, the Youngsters's Commissioner for England, mentioned she was "deeply shocked" that so many children had been searched this fashion.
"In a strip search, your most intimate components are searched," mentioned de Souza. "For any youngster, that is going to be traumatic and regarding."
The info additionally reveals ethnic disparities, added De Souza.
She mentioned 58% of youngsters strip-searched over the two-year interval had been black, regardless of simply 19% of 10-17 year-olds within the UK capital having this ethnicity.
The commissioner additionally discovered that in almost 1 / 4 of instances the search happened with out the presence of a 3rd grownup.
Greater than half of the searches didn't result in a prosecution, with Dame de Souza saying they had been in all probability not "warranted or vital in all instances".
The commissioner launched her investigation following widespread outrage over the case of Youngster Q, a 15-year-old black schoolgirl who was strip-searched at her college in east London.
She was wrongly suspected of carrying hashish.
The strip search prompted days of protests in Hackney after it emerged the schoolgirl was searched with out one other grownup current and with the information that she was menstruating. Her dad and mom weren't contacted.
Within the UK, it's a authorized requirement for an applicable grownup to be current in the course of the strip search of a kid, besides in pressing conditions.
A Youngster Protecting Providers report into the incident concluded that the search ought to “by no means” have taken place and that “racism (whether or not deliberate or not) was seemingly a contributing issue."
Strip searches on females are uncommon within the UK, with 19 out of 20 carried out on males.
De Souza mentioned her findings confirmed the case of Youngster Q was not a one-off.
“I'm not reassured that what occurred to Youngster Q was an remoted problem, however as an alternative consider it might be a very regarding instance of a extra systemic downside round youngster safety inside the Metropolitan Police," she mentioned.
"I stay unconvinced that the Metropolitan Police is constantly contemplating kids’s welfare and wellbeing."
She additionally expressed concern about "holes within the information" recorded by London's police pressure.
"For about one in 5 of the strip-searched, they can not even inform me the place they happened, so the info assortment must be higher," de Souza mentioned.
In a press release, the Metropolitan Police mentioned it's "progressing at tempo" to make sure kids topic to intrusive searches are handled respectfully.
It added new measures have been launched requiring an inspector to present authority earlier than a search takes place.
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