The Mayor of London has called for the officers who strip-searched a Black schoolgirl to be charged with gross misconduct after racism was found to be a likely “contributing factor” according to a review.
The 15-year-old, referred to as Child Q, was subjected to a strip-search by Metropolitan Police officers whilst she was menstruating.
This comes after a YouGov Macpherson report revealed that over half of Londoners found the Met Police institutionally racist when asked in an online poll: ‘Do you think the police today is or is not institutionally racist?’
The police were called to the school because teachers said the girl smelt strongly of cannabis and they were concerned that she was carrying drugs.
The report, published earlier this month, stated that the search took place in the girl’s school in Hackney without the appropriate adult present.
The search was conducted by two female officers. The girl was forced to remove her sanitary towel and the search was officiated without parental consent.
Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, described her treatment as “appalling” and called for urgent action:
The indignities that Child Q was subjected to are not an aberration, they're part of a bigger picture of institutional racism and discrimination within policing.
I’m appalled this happened in Hackney and I've written to the Borough Commander demanding an urgent meeting #ChildQ pic.twitter.com/vgkQpGYlLC
— Diane Abbott MP (@HackneyAbbott) March 16, 2022
The report also said it was highly likely that “adultification bias” had played a part in the girl’s case – this is where adults perceive Black children as older than they are.
The girl’s aunt told the review she had been transformed from a “happy-go-lucky girl” into a “timid recluse” who is “now self-harming” and “gets panic attacks”.
The Metropolitan Police has said the incident “should never have happened”.
Labour criticises the Government’s strategy on racial inequality
Speaking in Parliament today, Shadow equalities minister Taiwo Owatemi said: “This strategy fails to deliver for Child Q, a 15-year-old black girl from Hackney who faced the most appalling treatment at the hands of the police, with racism very likely to have been an influencing factor.
“When the Government publishes a flawed report and then churns out an inadequate strategy a whole year after, these are the very people it is failing.”
Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch replied: “I think it was an appalling incident.
“I am glad to see that the Met has apologised, I am glad to see the Independent Office for Police Conduct are looking at that. We have systems in place to ensure that when things go wrong we correct them. What we cannot do is stop any bad thing from happening to anyone in the country at any time.”
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