Met police apologise over ‘traumatic’ strip search of Hackney schoolgirl
The Metropolitan police have apologised after two officers strip searched a black schoolgirl who was wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis.
A safeguarding report found that the strip search, which was carried out while the child was on her period and without other adults present, was unjustified and racism “was likely to have been an influencing factor.”
In the report, the victim’s family spoke about the “prolonged” suffering that the secondary school student, refereed to as Child Q, has undergone as a result of the police officer’s behaviour.
“Child Q is a changed person,” her mother told investigators. “She is now self harming and requires therapy. She is traumatised and is now a shell of the bubbly child she was before this incident.”
Teachers called police to the school because they were concerned the student had drugs in her possession because they believed she smelt of cannabis. Two police officers took Child Q into a medical room alone and strip searched her without other adults present.
According to the child’s mother, during the search Child Q was made to bend over, spread her legs and cough. She was also barred from going to the bathroom and was not approached by teacher’s after the incident, instead being made to return to an exam she was sitting.
The family made a formal complaint to the Metropolitan police in May last year. Following the outcome of the investigation, Scotland Yard has apologised for the incident which it admitted “should never have happened”.
“It is truly regrettable and on behalf of the Met Police I would like to apologise to the child concerned, her family and the wider community,” said Detective Superintendent Dan Rutland of the Met’s Central East Command.
The Independent office for Police Conduct have launched an independent investigation into the matter which is ongoing.
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