Children subjected to 'degrading' strip searches by Welsh police forces
Children subjected to 'degrading' strip searches by Welsh police forces
Black children are disproportionately targeted
Children are being subjected to strip searches in what has been called a "degrading" process. A total of 5,428 strip searches of children were undertaken in Wales in the two years to 2023, mostly for drugs and weapons, with six cases involving under-13s, latest figures show. 85 involved a more thorough or intimate search beyond removing a coat, jacket or gloves.
Data shows black children are disproportionately searched in this way. It has led calls for there to be a ban on strip searching of children in Wales.
Dr Rhian Croke, from the Children's Legal Centre Wales, said strip searching 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.
"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." For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here.
Dr Croke said in most cases nothing illegal was found during searches conducted in custody "yet the degrading practice continues'.
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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.
Research suggests black children in Wales and England are four times more likely to be strip-searched compared to national population figures.
Jason Davies, South Wales Police deputy chief constable, acknowledged disproportionality in the number of ethnic minority children being strip searched however South Wales Police, Dyfed-Powys Police, and Gwent Police refused to provide any data on child strip searches cross-referenced by ethnicity in response to FoI requests, according to the briefing.
Dr Croke raised concerns about the review showing North Wales Police were only able to confirm the presence of an appropriate adult in about half to two-thirds of searches.
"This report has taken over a year to come into the public domain," she wrote. "It is a report of significant public interest that reveals a lack of compliance with existing legislation, a failure to uphold children's rights, and raises critical questions."
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