Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.023826

I note you seek access to the following information:

A black schoolgirl was strip-searched by police after being wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis.

The "traumatic" search by Metropolitan Police officers took place without another adult present at the girl's secondary school in Hackney in 2020.

A safeguarding report on the incident concluded it was unjustified and racism was "likely" to have been a factor.

Scotland Yard said the officers' actions were "regrettable" and it "should never have happened".

According to the report, the impact on the pupil - referred to as Child Q - was "profound" and the repercussions "obvious and ongoing".

Family members described her as changing from a "happy-go-lucky girl to a timid recluse that hardly speaks", who now self-harms and needs therapy.
Intimate body parts exposed

Police were called to a school in Hackney at the end of 2020 by teachers, who told investigators they had been concerned the teenager had drugs in her possession because she smelt of cannabis.

She was taken to the medical room and strip-searched by two female officers, while teachers remained outside.

During the ordeal her intimate body parts were exposed and she was made to take off her sanitary towel, according to the review. No drugs were found.

Her family strongly believe the strip search was a racist incident, and the review found her experiences are "unlikely to have been the same" had she not been black.
'Adultification bias'

The Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review, published in March, was conducted by City & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership (CHSCP) .

REQUEST
Provide the date of the disciplinary hearing for the officer relating to events covered in The Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review, published in March conducted by City & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership (CHSCP) .

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

There is no disciplinary hearing arranged. The IOPC are independently investigating and we await their findings.