Children 'being failed' as figures show police forces in Yorkshire made over 100 strip-searches of youngsters

Nationally black children were up to six times more likely to be strip-searched and more than half of the almost-3,000 strip-searches in recent years have taken place without an appropriate adult present, research by the Children’s Commissioner reveals.

Searches across England and Wales took place in police vehicles and schools – with a small number carried out in takeaways and amusement parks.

The vast majority were boys and nearly a quarter were aged between ten and 15. The youngest was just eight years old.

Six per cent of strip-searches were conducted with at least one officer of a different gender than the child being searched present, the report added. A breakdown showed that police in West Yorkshire carried out 43 strip searches of children under stop and search powers between 2018 and mid-2022, two per cent of the total number.

There were 37 in North Yorkshire (one per cent); 20 by Humberside (under one per cent) and 16 in South Yorkshire (under one per cent).

Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said the findings demonstrated “evidence of deeply concerning practice” with “widespread non-compliance” with statutory safeguards, adding that children are “being failed by those whose job it is to protect them”.

She ordered the report after the Child Q scandal which came to light last March. The 15-year-old black schoolgirl was strip-searched while on her period after being wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis at her east London school.

Scotland Yard apologised and said the incident in 2020 without another adult present “should never have happened”. See page two.