82% of Britons are white yet 37% of strip searches were of black, male, children as young as eight years old? Those statistics are appalling.
Several searches took place in take-out restaurants, amusement parks, schools and police cars and over half without a legally responsible adult present at a police station as required by law.
Almost half without the details of their location recorded.
This is abhorrent.
This is the worst police headline since the time officers were caught taking pictures of dead bodies and sharing them on WhatsApp.
Hypothetical for you all –
A child is cut at school, tells the teacher another child cut him with a razor blade
Teacher approaches child and asks them to hand it over, child refuses. Teacher calls parents and police. Only police show up, no razor blade has been found.
Child is subsequently arrested. Taken to custody and and clothing is searched and child is patted down. No further search takes place.
Child is placed in the cell awaiting processing and parents arrival. Child takes razor blade out from underwear, slits wrist and bleeds out.
All officers involved in this incident are now under investigation for the death of the child and face charges. A child is dead because that razor blade was unaccounted for.
There are a number of authentication processes in place before a child is strip searched. It requires approval from a senior officer and justification as to why it’s needed. If you don’t want kids searched, fine, then you can no longer hold officers accountable for what happens when they’re not searched.
> The report by Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza showed 2,847 children were strip-searched in England and Wales from 2018 to mid-2022.
> More than half (52%) of the searches took place without an appropriate adult – a legal requirement, except when there is serious risk to a child’s life or welfare.
> And 51% of the searches led to no further action.
Doesn’t this imply that the searches are more likely to be restricted to circumstances in which there’s a serious risk to life/welfare?
And no further action in criminal proceedings obviously doesn’t mean “and then literally nothing else happened”, either…
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So organised criminals are using children as young as 8 to carry weapons/drugs and the police are the bad guys for searching them?
51% led to no further action. I think 49% leading to further action is a pretty fucking good success rate to be fair despite the tone of the article from the “neutral” BBC insinuating that the statistics presented are in any way shocking.
Isn’t this because most drug dealers and gangs now use kids to transport their drugs and weapons? And most these gangs are black?
“Some 39 of 43 forces responded to her latest request.”
I’d be looking VERY closely at the ones that didn’t respond.
This is looking at it the wrong way, the headline should be drug gangs grooming child drug mules as young as 8.
This figures are damning.
Why did four forces not supply data? There may be a good reason but If they just said nope or don’t hold this data that is unacceptable.
It is shocking and wrong that black children are 6 times more likely stripped searched than non-black. But also boys are 19 times more likely to be stripped searched than girls. This is unacceptable too and equally should be called out. Anything you say to justify why boys are more likely to be stripped searched than girls can equally likely be said about the comparison between any two groups.
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Round of applause for your police. Can’t say im surprised
This wouldn’t be a thing if eight year old didn’t carry knifes.
I deal with the police on a daily basis as part of my profession. The majority of them are often quite peculiar individuals, so things like this don’t actually come as a surprise to me.
A lot of them have problems with social interaction and often act in an socially inappropriate manner, so getting hands on with kids won’t be seen as big deal by most do them.
There a few of them lurking around this sub trying to justify their actions. Thankfully they get run off pretty quickly.
Reddit: OUTRAGED that children are strip searched in custody
Also reddit: EVEN MORE OUTRAGED when the police have “just allowed an innocent child” to kill themselves in custody using a concealed weapon.
One is completely naive to think that children dont commit crimes. If a child (could be 16 or 17) is mature enough to commit serious crimes, carry weapons, and be in gangs then they’re mature enough to be in custody and subsequently searched. Yes, they need help and should be given help to rehabilitate, but unfortunately this currently involves someone being in custody first
It’s wild that people would think making a child get unclothed without an appropriate adult would be better than waiting for one to come.
I’m actually glad they try to keep the kids safe, older gang members abuse them for their own benefits.
I just wish governments would aim to reduce poverty and offer these communities more opportunities so that they aren’t driven towards crime. All anyone wants is punishment. It’s ducking gross.
> Of the nearly 3,000 searches, almost a quarter (24%) took place on children aged 10-15. The youngest was eight years old.
So 76% were carried out on 8-9 and 16-17 year olds. I’m sure the Children’s Commissioner’s report and the media would (rightly) be keen to highlight if 1000s of 8-9 year olds were being searched, so I think it’s not unreasonable to assume that most of the “children” being talked about are 16 and 17 year olds.
When I was in prison, visitors with babies/toddlers would be asked to change the child’s nappy in front of staff so they could make sure nothing was hidden in it. It was rare, but it happened. As of 2016 anyway, don’t know if it’s still policy.
I know it’s unpleasant, but there are legit reasons to strip search, in various forms, young children. Including protecting them from harm. While not done in the same way, the process for looking for bruses/abuse boils down to the same thing, taking your clothes off in front of a stranger.
The most concerning thing is the lack of an appropriate adult and not filling in paperwork. Given the current climate you must be a grade A moron to risk your job over what is clearly a sensitive subject
21 comments
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82% of Britons are white yet 37% of strip searches were of black, male, children as young as eight years old? Those statistics are appalling.
Several searches took place in take-out restaurants, amusement parks, schools and police cars and over half without a legally responsible adult present at a police station as required by law.
Almost half without the details of their location recorded.
This is abhorrent.
This is the worst police headline since the time officers were caught taking pictures of dead bodies and sharing them on WhatsApp.
Hypothetical for you all –
A child is cut at school, tells the teacher another child cut him with a razor blade
Teacher approaches child and asks them to hand it over, child refuses. Teacher calls parents and police. Only police show up, no razor blade has been found.
Child is subsequently arrested. Taken to custody and and clothing is searched and child is patted down. No further search takes place.
Child is placed in the cell awaiting processing and parents arrival. Child takes razor blade out from underwear, slits wrist and bleeds out.
All officers involved in this incident are now under investigation for the death of the child and face charges. A child is dead because that razor blade was unaccounted for.
There are a number of authentication processes in place before a child is strip searched. It requires approval from a senior officer and justification as to why it’s needed. If you don’t want kids searched, fine, then you can no longer hold officers accountable for what happens when they’re not searched.
> The report by Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza showed 2,847 children were strip-searched in England and Wales from 2018 to mid-2022.
> More than half (52%) of the searches took place without an appropriate adult – a legal requirement, except when there is serious risk to a child’s life or welfare.
> And 51% of the searches led to no further action.
Doesn’t this imply that the searches are more likely to be restricted to circumstances in which there’s a serious risk to life/welfare?
And no further action in criminal proceedings obviously doesn’t mean “and then literally nothing else happened”, either…
[removed]
So organised criminals are using children as young as 8 to carry weapons/drugs and the police are the bad guys for searching them?
51% led to no further action. I think 49% leading to further action is a pretty fucking good success rate to be fair despite the tone of the article from the “neutral” BBC insinuating that the statistics presented are in any way shocking.
Isn’t this because most drug dealers and gangs now use kids to transport their drugs and weapons? And most these gangs are black?
“Some 39 of 43 forces responded to her latest request.”
I’d be looking VERY closely at the ones that didn’t respond.
This is looking at it the wrong way, the headline should be drug gangs grooming child drug mules as young as 8.
This figures are damning.
Why did four forces not supply data? There may be a good reason but If they just said nope or don’t hold this data that is unacceptable.
It is shocking and wrong that black children are 6 times more likely stripped searched than non-black. But also boys are 19 times more likely to be stripped searched than girls. This is unacceptable too and equally should be called out. Anything you say to justify why boys are more likely to be stripped searched than girls can equally likely be said about the comparison between any two groups.
[removed]
Round of applause for your police. Can’t say im surprised
This wouldn’t be a thing if eight year old didn’t carry knifes.
I deal with the police on a daily basis as part of my profession. The majority of them are often quite peculiar individuals, so things like this don’t actually come as a surprise to me.
A lot of them have problems with social interaction and often act in an socially inappropriate manner, so getting hands on with kids won’t be seen as big deal by most do them.
There a few of them lurking around this sub trying to justify their actions. Thankfully they get run off pretty quickly.
Reddit: OUTRAGED that children are strip searched in custody
Also reddit: EVEN MORE OUTRAGED when the police have “just allowed an innocent child” to kill themselves in custody using a concealed weapon.
One is completely naive to think that children dont commit crimes. If a child (could be 16 or 17) is mature enough to commit serious crimes, carry weapons, and be in gangs then they’re mature enough to be in custody and subsequently searched. Yes, they need help and should be given help to rehabilitate, but unfortunately this currently involves someone being in custody first
It’s wild that people would think making a child get unclothed without an appropriate adult would be better than waiting for one to come.
I’m actually glad they try to keep the kids safe, older gang members abuse them for their own benefits.
I just wish governments would aim to reduce poverty and offer these communities more opportunities so that they aren’t driven towards crime. All anyone wants is punishment. It’s ducking gross.
> Of the nearly 3,000 searches, almost a quarter (24%) took place on children aged 10-15. The youngest was eight years old.
So 76% were carried out on 8-9 and 16-17 year olds. I’m sure the Children’s Commissioner’s report and the media would (rightly) be keen to highlight if 1000s of 8-9 year olds were being searched, so I think it’s not unreasonable to assume that most of the “children” being talked about are 16 and 17 year olds.
When I was in prison, visitors with babies/toddlers would be asked to change the child’s nappy in front of staff so they could make sure nothing was hidden in it. It was rare, but it happened. As of 2016 anyway, don’t know if it’s still policy.
I know it’s unpleasant, but there are legit reasons to strip search, in various forms, young children. Including protecting them from harm. While not done in the same way, the process for looking for bruses/abuse boils down to the same thing, taking your clothes off in front of a stranger.
The most concerning thing is the lack of an appropriate adult and not filling in paperwork. Given the current climate you must be a grade A moron to risk your job over what is clearly a sensitive subject