In December 2020, a 15-year-old black school girl, known as Child Q, was racially profiled and strip-searched by the Metropolitan police at her school in Hackney, after being wrongly suspected of drug possession.

Child Q and her family are suing the Met police and the school after the Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review, which was conducted by City & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership, ruled that “the decision to strip search Child Q was insufficiently attuned to her best interests or right to privacy.” It also stated that the teachers failed to attend to the child’s safeguarding needs when addressing concerns about her suspected drug possession. 

Teachers at the Hackney school believed that Child Q smelled of cannabis, but she denied using or having any drugs in her possession. Her belongings were searched and no drugs were found, but the teachers proceeded to call for further action. As the Safer Schools Police Officer was absent, they called the police.

The young girl was taken out of an exam and strip-searched by the Met police on school premises. She was ordered by 2 female officers to expose her intimate body parts as part of the search. Even though they were both aware that she was menstruating at the time, the officers instructed the child to take off her underwear and sanitary towel, and then made her bend over and cough. There was no appropriate adult present and Child Q’s mother was not contacted prior to the search.

No drugs were found during the strip-search or in the room she had been waiting in before.

It comes as no surprise that Child Q is still suffering from psychological distress and depression as a result of the racially-motivated incident. Not only did the school fail to make any attempt to protect her safety and privacy as a minor, the police also dealt with the issue in the most undignified and traumatising way possible. 

Her family members have said she’s changed from being a "happy-go-lucky girl to a timid recluse that hardly speaks", and she now self-harms, screams in her sleep, and goes to therapy.

Since the Child Q case came to public attention, the 2 officers that conducted the strip search have been removed from public-facing duties. Strip searching rules have also now been modified in 2 London boroughs, so permission from a police inspector is now required before any child is strip-searched.

Tackling institutional racism

The safeguarding report concluded that “racism (whether deliberate or not) was likely to have been an influencing factor in the decision to undertake a strip search.”

But this isn’t an isolated incident - a Freedom of Information request disclosed that, in the last five years, the Met police performed around 9,000 strip searches on children. It was found that 60% of the children strip-searched in Hackney last year were black. 

This uncovers the uncomfortable truth that, as progressive as we may think Britain is, the intolerance, neglect, and ill-treatment black people continues to plague our nation.

Although we must hold both the school and the Met police accountable for subjecting Child Q to such trauma in this one instance, the incident points to the wider issue of ongoing systemic racism in all facets of society. White people must treat this as an urgent call to unpack their internalised racism and dismantle institutional racism as a collective. It is paramount that we work together to prevent history from repeating itself, so no more black people, especially children, ever have to suffer this level of injustice. 

The incident has also raised questions about the pervasiveness of the adultification of black children in society. As a result of racial bias, black girls in particular tend to experience a quicker erasure of their childhood and be treated more like adults in comparison to their white counterparts. This often means that they are punished more harshly and afforded less protection by figures of authority. Many would argue that had Child Q been white, a strip search probably would not have been conducted.

Since the Child Q controversy, Hackney council’s chief executive, Mark Caroll, has proposed that ‘adultification training’ needs to be implemented in the local area. In a letter to Scotland Yard, the Met headquarters, he said: “As you recognise, Child Q should have been treated with dignity and respect. She should have been treated as the child she is: her rights as a child, safeguarded; and her position as a child protected by the adults around her that day.

“It is clear that she was wholly failed, and together we must all make sure that this is never allowed to happen again. Hackney council accepts the review panel’s finding that this appalling and humiliating experience was ‘likely influenced’ by racism.”

Together, we can work to dismantle systemic racism and prevent this from ever happening again. At Find Others we firmly believe that when we unite, we have the power to achieve real, impactful change. Start a campaign or petition today using our free tools.

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