POLICE officers are increasingly strip-searching children because of a “cavalier culture” with the Metropolitan Police Service, according to a former superintendent.
Leroy Logan told GB News: “If the officer has reasonable grounds to suspect that that young person has an article on them that can endanger themselves or other people or even officers themselves, and a believe that a strip search is the only way to carry that out, but unless it’s a critical nature that should be done with an appropriate adult.
“A lot of these stops and searches, of strip searches of an intimate nature, just does not add up, that it has to be done outside the presence and hearing of an appropriate adult.”
Speaking during an interview with Bev Turner on GB News he said: “If the officer has reasonable grounds to suspect that person is associated with a crime that’s been alleged – they’ve seen CCTV there’s been information or direct evidence that the officer can count to and that’s given a reasonable him or her reasonable grounds, then the officer can do that direct search.
“Invariably, when it comes to young people, it shouldn’t be done [in public] and more appropriately, it should be done at the station where they can call in appropriate adult for that search to be carried out.
“That’s what has to be done according to the codes of conduct but this is not being adhered to.
“It begs some really strong questions on why these officers are allowed to do this. Is it the Cavalier culture of the Met that think they can just get away with this without there being any implications? Are the supervisors or sergeants inspectors doing their job holding our officers to account with strong ethical leadership and accountability?
“These are sort of things that have been asked for decades, and it doesn’t seem to be making any difference.
“And all the time, the Met comes up with ‘well, we’re changing and we’re learning’ but it seems to be regurgitating the same thing over and over again.”
He added: “A strip search is more than just the outer clothing, the jacket or other sort of clothing so it’s more than just the outer clothing. Let’s say it’s when it’s going down to the underwear and the intimate search is when they’re asked to remove their underwear and an internal look at any orifice they believe something that can be hidden.
“So it’s a very, very traumatic experience, especially for a young person. It’d be a terrible circumstance where an appropriate adult is not there.
“That’s what we learned from ‘Child Q’ [in the report] and what happened with her when officers suggested that she smelt of cannabis and went down to an intimate search and that had a massive impact on her family and the wider community.”
