27-03-2023, 11:54 AM
2 hours ago
LONDON (AP) — Black children in England and Wales were six times more likely to be strip-searched by police, according to a report being released Monday that found children were failed by those sworn to protect them.
Children’s Commissioner Rachel de Souza found nearly 3,000 children were strip-searched between 2018 and mid-2022 and more than half the searches were conducted without an appropriate adult present.
The investigation was launched after a Black 15-year-old girl suspected of having marijuana was strip-searched at a London school in 2020 by two female officers without another adult present. The girl, identified as “Child Q,” was menstruating and no drugs were found. A previous report said racism was a likely factor for the humiliating search.
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The findings follow a scathing report last week that found the public had lost confidence in London’s Metropolitan Police and that the force was plagued with institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia and didn’t do enough to remove bad officers. That report was commissioned after an officer raped and killed a young woman.
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The new report said children as young as 8 were being searched in places that were often inappropriate, such as amusement parks or vehicles and sometimes even within public view. In some cases, at least one officer present was of a gender different than the child being searched.
https://apnews.com/article/england-wales...1c97e2b2b8
LONDON (AP) — Black children in England and Wales were six times more likely to be strip-searched by police, according to a report being released Monday that found children were failed by those sworn to protect them.
Children’s Commissioner Rachel de Souza found nearly 3,000 children were strip-searched between 2018 and mid-2022 and more than half the searches were conducted without an appropriate adult present.
The investigation was launched after a Black 15-year-old girl suspected of having marijuana was strip-searched at a London school in 2020 by two female officers without another adult present. The girl, identified as “Child Q,” was menstruating and no drugs were found. A previous report said racism was a likely factor for the humiliating search.
......
The findings follow a scathing report last week that found the public had lost confidence in London’s Metropolitan Police and that the force was plagued with institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia and didn’t do enough to remove bad officers. That report was commissioned after an officer raped and killed a young woman.
......
The new report said children as young as 8 were being searched in places that were often inappropriate, such as amusement parks or vehicles and sometimes even within public view. In some cases, at least one officer present was of a gender different than the child being searched.
https://apnews.com/article/england-wales...1c97e2b2b8