Child Q: Metropolitan Police to bring in stricter rules for intimate searches of children

News of the child’s treatment sparked protests in Hackney. Photograph: Julia Gregory

Police in Hackney are bringing in stricter rules governing the intimate searches of children and receiving training adultification.

The moves have been unveiled in response to the Child Q scandal, which saw a Black teenage girl wrongly strip-searched by police after they were contacted by her school.

The Met’s deputy commissioner Laurence Taylor accepted that the scandal has “generated high emotion and anger and I want to listen and respond to communities to build trust where it has been lost”.

In an exchange of letters with Hackney Council, which demanded a rapid action plan after the girl’s treatment was made public, Taylor renewed the police’s pledge to “become a truly anti-racist organisation”.

He said: “We are under no illusion that the Child Q incident, together with other high-profile incidents, have had a significant impact on the trust and confidence Londoners have in the MPS.

“Officers and staff throughout the Met are working hard to rebuild that trust. We know we must do so and we are committed to doing all we can.”

A City and Hackney Child Safeguarding review said racism may have consciously or unconsciously played a part in what happened at the unnamed Hackney school.

An independent police conduct investigation is also underway.

Taylor gave his backing to Hackney’s borough commander Marcus Barnett, describing him as “extremely capable and dedicated”.

Some councillors have called for a new borough commander in the wake of the scandal.

Hackney’s borough commander Marcus Barnett. Photograph: Met Police

Earlier this week, Barnett said he was “mortified” by the strip-search and that it should never have happened.

Taylor revealed that Hackney and Tower Hamlets police will pilot a new approach to intimate searches.

It will mean an MITP – a More Thorough Search where Intimate Parts are exposed – must be approved by an inspector, in addition to the current rules which insist on officers talking to their supervisors and having an appropriate adult present.

The Met will also send letters home to parents if they have not found drugs during a search, in a bid to be “transparent” and help focus on safeguarding.

If children are subject to intimate searches away from the police station, a report will be sent to social services.

Taylor said the force is also reviewing the policy of intimate searches of children, adding: “This is firstly to ensure that the policy is appropriate and takes account of the safeguarding review, and also that it recognises the fact that a child in these circumstances may be a vulnerable victim of exploitation by others, which unfortunately occurs where children are exploited by gangs, county lines and drug-dealing.”

Other steps include training frontline police in adultification of children – which has led to a disproportionate number of Black youngsters being treated like adults.

The deputy commissioner said the training will include an “awareness of structural racism, addressing the misuse of the term ‘streetwise’ and reinforce the need to view children as children with a safeguarding mindset alongside the use of our lawful powers”.

The words of Child Q written on a pavement by protesters. Photograph: Julia Gregory

Responding to the police, Hackney Council’s chief executive Mark Carroll said: “The issues of racism, and trust and confidence in policing amongst our Black and Global Majority residents go back, as you note, many many years.

“Action to date has had very little impact, and we all agree that trust and confidence remains too low, particularly in Hackney.”

He cautiously welcomed the Met’s “intention to become an anti-racist organisation, and your commitment to training and improvement to avoid adultification bias”.

Carroll also welcomed the tighter rules for more thorough searches and the emphasis on child safeguarding in the pilot in Hackney and Tower Hamlets.

He said: “We now need to ensure that our communities have confidence that your proposals will result in meaningful change, and it is essential that there is transparency and accountability in policing and in this plan for our residents.”

The council is planning to hold an event for parents, carers and guardians to update them about the case and give them a chance to quiz key officers about children’s safety.

It will also work with local partners to keep an eye on the police plan.

Carroll added: “We are committed to working with you, the City and Hackney Children’s Safeguarding Panel, our communities and other partners, to ensure that the appalling treatment of Child Q, and the impact on her family and the wider community is a genuine catalyst for real and substantive change in the relationship between the Metropolitan Police and our Black and Global Majority communities.”