The Metropolitan Police has made a further seven voluntary referrals to the police watchdog involving strip searches of children by officers.
The referrals relate to separate incidents, between December 2019 and March 2022, where children aged 14 to 17 were either strip searched by officers in custody or were subject to more intimate searches in the wider community, Scotland Yard said.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct have already returned two of the referrals for internal investigation by the Met, and the watchdog is yet to announce whether it will investigate the remaining five cases, the force said.
The revelation comes after it emerged last week that four police officers had been served with gross misconduct notices in relation to the strip-searching a 15-year-old Black schoolgirl, identified only as Child Q, in a case which has sparked protests and widespread condemnation.
A month earlier, the watchdog confirmed it was investigating the strip-search of another child by the Metropolitan Police, and of another anonymous teenager given the pseudonym Olivia by the BBC.
Announcing the seven additional referrals, the Met’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said: “ We understand the trauma and lasting impact these types of searches can have on people, especially young people, and understand the public’s concerns following several cases.”
The force has “already made a number of changes to the way we work to ensure that officers consider the child first and take a safeguarding approach,” Mr Taylor said, adding that the force is in the process of reviewing complaints received over the past three years in relation to strip searches involving children.
“Strip searches in custody and searches that expose more intimate parts outside of custody are important in ensuring the safety of the person being searched as well as protecting communities from drugs and weapons. But they must, of course, be carried out appropriately and in line with our policy,” he said.
“We have already confirmed three cases have been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) for that important independent oversight of how police carried out those searches – these cases are known as ‘Child Q’, ‘Child A’ and ‘Olivia’.
“We have now made a further seven voluntary referrals to the IOPC.”
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