Police to propose new safer schools policy for Hackney in wake of Child Q review

Protesters took to the streets when the Child Q scandal came to light

The Metropolitan Police is to deliver fresh schools safety proposals to the Town Hall on Wednesday in a bid to rebuild confidence following the Child Q scandal.

The infamous strip-search of a Black teenager at her school in 2020 prompted investigations into police conduct, and the Met has now drafted reforms of its safer schools partnerships (SSPs) across the borough.

A report signed off by the Central East Borough Command Unit for Hackney said the force is updating its approach for schools intervention to soothe concerns about the “disproportionate impact of SSPs across London”.

Following “questions about the role of police in schools raised by the Child Q Safeguarding Practice Review”, the council’s scrutiny commissions will be asked to review new arrangements and make recommendations for an “imminent” rollout.

The report references a 2022 Runnymede Trust review into school policing, which found that Black and ethnic minority children are overpoliced, with 58 per cent of all strip-searches by the Met between 2018-20 carried out on Black boys.

Draft proposals include the role of a “tactical advisor” to support on crime and safeguarding issues and act as a visible presence, and a “toolkit” of engagement options for both primary and secondary schools.

These options include workshops, assemblies, presentations, and “targeted weapon sweeps”.

What are safer schools partnerships?

Introduced by the previous Labour government in 2002, SSPs were created “to keep young people safe, reduce crime and the fear of crime and improve behaviour in schools and their communities”.

They involved a formal agreement between a school or partnership where police or community support officers (PCSOs) regularly work at a school or number of schools, either full-time or part-time.

Originally they were set up in those local authorities in England with the highest rates of youth offending, truancy and ASB.

Part of their evolution has included the role of safer schools officers (SSOs) who would develop “trusted and positive relationships” with schools.

What was the Child Q scandal?

The role of police in schools made national headlines in 2020 when a Black 15-year-old schoolgirl was wrongly accused of drug possession and strip-searched while at school in Hackney.

No adult was present in the room during the search and the girl’s parents were not contacted.

The search was carried out by female officers with the knowledge the girl was menstruating.

When the incident was later made public, it triggered days of protests in the borough.

The Runnymede report said the school “failed to consider the best interests of Child Q or to treat the matter as a safeguarding issue”.

A report in June 2023 found the school to have since made “radical changes”, but Child Q has taken legal action against the police and her school.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)  has confirmed its investigation of three officers for gross misconduct, including allegations of discrimination because of Child Q’s race and sex.

As of August the disciplinary hearings have yet to be scheduled.

A report from the Independent Child Safeguarding Commisioner Jim Gamble concluded that racism “was likely to have been an influencing the decision to undertake a strip-search”.

A Freedom of Information request from the Runnymede report at the time revealed there were plans to increase the number of SSOs by seven per cent.

The report also recommended the government require all police forces in England to discontinue any further participation in SSPs and withdraw Safer Schools Officers from schools.

The Children and Young People Scrutiny Commission will hear the new SSP proposals on Wednesday 11 September.