Child Q: Officer admits failings during strip-search of Black schoolgirl

Independent

3 days ago

An officer who strip-searched a 15-year-old Black schoolgirl has admitted a series of failings in her handling of the incident, but denied her actions were discriminatory, a misconduct panel has heard.
The girl, known as Child Q, was strip-searched by officers in Hackney, east London, on December 3 2020, after her school wrongly suspected her of carrying cannabis.
The police search involved the removal of Child Q's clothing, including her underwear, and her bending over while she was menstruating, a previous hearing heard.
Trainee detective constable (TDC) Kristina Linge, Pc Victoria Wray and Pc Rafal Szmydynski, who were all Pcs at the time, all deny gross misconduct over their treatment of the girl.
On Wednesday, TDC Linge, who conducted the strip search alongside Pc Wray, gave evidence to a Metropolitan police misconduct panel in London, where she admitted a series of failings regarding the incident.
The 46-year-old agreed when questioned by her barrister, Luke Ponte, that there was no appropriate adult present during the strip search and that she had not conducted a less intrusive type of search prior to the strip search.
Mr Ponte asked the officer: 'You failed to make a record of the search?'
'That is correct,' TDC Linge replied.
He said: 'You accept that in all the circumstances you did not properly step back and consider the proportionality of the situation?'
'That's correct,' she said.
Mr Ponte asked: 'You accept the search should not have happened?'
'Yes,' she replied.
'You accept that it happening caused Q harm and distress?' he said.
'I believe so,' she responded.
Mr Ponte then asked TDC Linge whether she would have done anything differently had the circumstances been 'exactly the same' but Child Q had been white, to which she replied: 'No.'
The panel heard that TDC Linge did not accept accusations of breaches of respect for authority and respecting courtesy.
The officer said that upon her arrival at the school, the deputy safeguarding staff member was 'adamant' that the girl had drugs on her and that the headteacher said she wanted to 'make sure' the girl was not 'carrying drugs for herself or others'.
When asked about the likelihood of finding drugs concealed in the 'groin area' or bra using a JOG search (meaning removal of jacket, outer coat and gloves), the officer replied, saying she thought this would be 'impossible'.
TDC Linge told the panel that prior to the incident, she had not attended a school before for policing purposes.
Before the strip search of Child Q, the officer said she had only taken part in stop-and-search JOG searches that had been conducted on the street. The panel heard that these factors had contributed to why TDC Linge felt she had 'got things wrong' on this occasion.
TDC Linge also said she had never observed an MTIP (More Thorough Intimate Parts) search, commonly known as strip searches, before searching Child Q.
A previous hearing heard that Child Q informed the two officers who searched her that she was menstruating, but the search continued during which her sanitary pad was exposed.
When no drugs were found after the strip search, Child Q's hair was also scoured.
According to the allegations, Pcs Linge and Szmydynski performed a search that exposed the girl's intimate parts when this was 'disproportionate in all the circumstances'.
Pcs Linge and Wray are also accused of performing or allowing the search in a manner which was 'unjustified, inappropriate, disproportionate, humiliating and degrading'.
All of this happened without authorisation, in the absence of an appropriate adult, and with no adequate concern being given to Child Q's age, sex, or the need to treat her as a child, and that the child's race was an effective cause of this, it is also alleged.
Pcs Szmydynski and Linge are further accused of giving a 'misleading record' of the search afterwards.
The girl will not be giving evidence at the tribunal, 'because of the psychological effects that this strip search has had on her', the panel previously heard.
Outrage over Child Q's treatment led to protests outside Stoke Newington Police Station.
Scotland Yard has previously apologised over the incident.
The hearing continues.