Investigations launched by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) also relate to two 16-year-old boys who were allegedly taken into custody in 2020 without a suitable adult present: one at Ilford police station in January and the other at Bethnal police station Green in October. It comes after the IOPC received 11 referrals from the Met relating to separate incidents between December 2019 and May 2022. All involved children aged 14 to 17, who were investigated by officers in or out of custody. As well as the two referrals being investigated, the IOPC said a further six are suitable for local police investigation, with the remaining three awaiting a decision on whether further action is required. In total, the IOPC is investigating five incidents of children being investigated by Met officers, including the 15-year-old black girl known as Child Q. In March, the revelation of Child Q’s treatment at a school in Hackney, east London, sparked outrage and protests. A child protection review launched by Hackney council found he was the subject of a police investigation into stripping in December 2020 involving the exposure of intimate parts of the body, with racism likely to have been an “influencing factor”. Four Met officers are being investigated by the IOPC for serious misconduct. The IOPC also recommended that the Met take “immediate steps to ensure that any investigations into undressed children are carried out in accordance with relevant legislation, national guidance and local policy”. These recommendations include that the best interests of the child should be a primary concern, that an appropriate adult be present, and that the strip search of a child should “be conducted in such a way as to, as far as possible, preserve the child’s dignity and takes into account their health, hygiene and welfare needs’. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST Michael Lockwood, director general of the IOPC, said: “We were concerned by what we saw in the cases referred to us involving allegations of strip searches… “Given the apparent delay in some of these cases being referred to us, we will now be working with the MPS [Met police service] review a sample of complaints … to see if the process is working as it should. “By engaging in this way, I hope we can address the growing concerns about the use of strip-search powers in England and Wales, in order to provide reassurance that they are only used when absolutely necessary.” A Met spokesman said it welcomed the IOPC’s recommendations.
