The scheme is being rolled out in Hackney and neighbouring Tower Hamlets. The current rules state that a strip-search requires a conversation with a supervisor and the presence of an appropriate adult. The move comes after details of a strip-search being carried out on a 15-year-old girl, known only as Child Q, came to light a few weeks ago. Details included that no adult present, the girl was menstruating and her requests for her mother to be called ignored. The girl is now suing the Met Police for over the incident. 

In a recent interview with Ibe Giantkiller, pastor and community leader Junior Spence, who attended meetings with the Met Police over the scandal, expressed his thoughts: "I cant imagine what was going through their minds to conduct such a search. They said she smelled of cannabis, I'll be honest with you, at any given time from Monday to Friday I can smell of cannabis because of the young people that I work with."

It's totally unacceptable. Nobody should be subjected to that type of ordeal. It goes too far, its dehumanised, traumatised that person. Yes we know young people smoke cannabis but certain things need to be put in place, an adult shouldve been present, the school will have to review their child protection policy."

The police admitted last week that the two officers who carried out the search had been moved from public-facing roles to desk duties, over 1 year after the incident. A safeguarding report found the strip-search in Hackney was unjustified and racism was "likely" to have been a factor.

Spence urged the police to admit that the root of this scandal is racism: The real victory will be when the police acknowledge that theres a racism problem within them and it needs to be addressed from the core. They need to admit that they have a problem, they need to be open and transparent and say 'look this is an issue that we have and were trying to deal with it'. The police dont know how to police young Black people, it wont be an overnight fixif you can admit we can start to move forward.

Watch Junior Spence talk on Child Q here:

APRIL 6, 2022. In a new pilot scheme a strip-search of any child in two London boroughs will need approval from an inspector following the Child Q controversy, the Met Police says.