Senedd calls for ban on strip-searching of children
Rhian Croke, of the Children's Legal Centre Wales, warned strip search is a violation of children's rights as she called for less invasive alternatives such as body scanners.
Dr Croke said: 'Instead of traumatising and degrading children including those who may be involved in offending… children should be treated as children first with dignity and respect.
'In Wales, strip search is contrary to the nation's commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Wales-only legislation that promotes children's rights….
'Wales should take the lead on ending the practice of strip search and instead invest in alternative technologies, so children have their rights protected.'
She stressed: 'Children in contact with the police may have already experienced layers upon layers of trauma, to then inflict a strip search on a child is completely inappropriate.'
Dr Croke, who holds a PhD in law, pointed out that in most cases nothing illegal was found during searches conducted in custody, 'yet the degrading practice continues.'
In a briefing for Senedd members, jointly prepared with fellow campaigner Saqib Deshmukh, she expressed concerns about 'totally inadequate' monitoring of incidents of strip searches.
Warning of a failure in transparency and accountability, Dr Croke said freedom of information (FoI) requests revealed discrepancies and contradictions in the data reported by police.
A total of 5,428 strip searches of children were undertaken in Wales in two years to 2023, mostly for drugs and weapons, with six cases involving under 13s, according to one review. 85 involved a more thorough or intimate search beyond removing a coat, jacket or gloves.
South Wales, Dyfed Powys, and Gwent Police refused to provide any data on child strip search cross-referenced by ethnicity in response to FoI requests, according to the briefing.
Concerns first came to light in 2020 when a schoolgirl in London was wrongly accused of having drugs and strip searched while on her period without an appropriate adult present.
During a legal case, the girl said: 'I don't know if I'm going to feel normal again. But I do know this can't happen to anyone else, ever again.'
In another case involving the Met police, an autistic girl, 15, was handcuffed, pinned down and searched, with her underwear cut off in front of male officers, after 20 hours in custody. She was so traumatised she tried to kill herself within weeks, her mother said.
Senedd members discussed the issue during a social justice committee meeting on May 12.
Lord Timpson – the UK minister responsible for prisons, probation and reducing reoffending – is scheduled to give evidence at the committee's next meeting on May 19.
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