Met officers who strip searched Child Q found to have committed gross misconduct

The Metropolitan police officers who strip searched Child Q in 2020 have been found to have committed gross misconduct. The findings come via an investigation from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). The panel found that the treatment of the child was:

disproportionate, inappropriate and unnecessary, which was humiliating for the child and made her feel degraded.

At the time, Child Q was strip searched in a school in Hackney without an adult present, nor without informing her parents. In 2022, the City of London & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership reviewed the case and found that:

had child Q not been Black, then her experiences are unlikely to have been the same

Now, five years later – far too long an amount of time for an official investigation – the Met are finally being held to task. However, alarmingly, the IOPC concluded that:

It did not find, based on the evidence, that race was a factor in their decisions or that the child was adultified.

Child Q failed

The panel did outline the numerous ways in which the Met police failed Child Q. The two officers in question, Trainee Detective Constable Kristina Linge and Police Constable Rafal Szmydynsk:

were found to have breached the police standards of professional behaviour relating to duties and responsibilities, authority, respect and courtesy; orders and instructions, and discreditable conduct.

The pair:

• failed to have an appropriate adult present during the strip search
• failed to get authorisation from a senior officer prior to the search
• failed to give Child Q a copy of the search record
• did not respect Child Q’s rights
• failed to protect Child Q

A third officer, PC Victoria Wray was found to have committed misconduct:

She was found to have breached the police standards of professional behaviour relating to duties and responsibilities, authority, respect and courtesy; and orders and instructions.

The search of Child Q was initially carried out because a teacher suspected she could smell weed on the pupil. IOPC director Amanda Rowe acknowledged that:

Their decision to strip search a 15-year-old at school on suspicion of a small amount of cannabis was completely disproportionate. They failed to follow the policies that exist to ensure that children in these situations have appropriate protective measures in place.

Anti-Blackness

The enduring understanding of Child Q since her case came to light has been one of anti-Black racism. In 2022, the Canary’s Sophia Purdy-Moore reported:

Today, schools systematically push Black pupils out of mainstream education and into pupil referral units, alternative provision, and – ultimately – prisons. Educators enact this through ‘zero tolerance’ policies which punish Black and minoritised pupils for wearing colourful hijabs or natural afro hair.

Anti-Black racism is built into our education systems. As such, the experiences of Child Q cannot be understood without appreciating the anti-Blackness and racism she suffered at the hands of these cops. In 2022, No More Exclusions founder Zahra Bei told us:

It’s appalling but it’s not surprising that the school dealt with this child and the situation as a criminal matter as opposed to a safeguarding matter. As it says in the report, she was seen as the risk instead of being at risk. And that is what fundamentally needs to change for Black children. Their childhood, their vulnerability, their needs, their humanity has to be recognised in its fullness.

Hackney MP Diane Abbott has also called out the broader pattern of misogynoir that led to Child Q’s awful experience:

Strip searching Child Q wasn't an isolated incident.

It's part of a broader pattern of police abuse towards women and particularly Black women.

It needs to end. pic.twitter.com/8XYXX7Ghpy

— Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) March 26, 2022

Institutional racism

The findings from the IOPC shouldn’t have taken five years from the incident to be delivered. But, that’s just like the Met Police – to commit horrific racism, deny they did so, and re-traumatise their victims. Child Q has previously spoken of her trauma over the incident. Undoubtedly, this latest finding that race did not play a part will add to her trauma. The IOPC may be shielding the Met Police from further embarrassing accusations of racism, but the rest of us must understand that denials of racism are a painful and retraumatising experience.

The fact that a 2022 safeguarding report did what the IOPC failed to do in their dismissal of race as a factor is a disgrace. Child Q’s experiences are part of a broader pattern of anti-Black racism that is rampant in our education and police systems.