Council casts doubt on ruling that race was ‘not a factor’ in Child Q incident
The words of Child Q written on a pavement by protesters. Photograph: Julia Gregory
Hackney Council has cast doubt on the police watchdog’s ruling that the strip-search of a 15-year-old Black schoolgirl was not motivated by racism.
Yesterday, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found the two Metropolitan Police officers involved in the ‘Child Q’ incident in 2020 had committed “gross misconduct”.
A disciplinary panel found DC-in-training Kristina Linge and PC Rafal Szmydynski had not respected the teenager’s rights as a child and failed to provide her with proper protection.
The officers have now been dismissed without notice.
The four-week misconduct hearing concluded that the “disproportionate, inappropriate and unnecessary” strip-search had been “humiliating for the child and made her feel degraded”.
The officers in question failed to get senior officer authorisation prior to the search “involving the exposure of intimate parts”, the panel found.
The watchdog did not find that race was a factor in the decision to strip-search the girl, or that she had been “adultified”.
IOPC director Amanda Rowe added the “unjustifiable” search had a significant and long-term impact on the vulnerable child’s wellbeing, alongside reported repercussions on public trust and confidence in policing.
While the council has “welcomed” yesterday’s ruling on misconduct, local politicans suggested the watchdog’s findings on the racial element was at odds with the council’s position.
Mayor Caroline Woodley and her community safety chief Susan Fajana-Thomas stated: “We have always been of the opinion that this incident was a result of racism or unconscious bias and adultification, with a young girl subjected to completely unacceptable treatment because of her race.
“Despite the panel finding it not proven that the officers involved were motivated by racial or unconscious bias, we welcome the finding that the search was unnecessary, inappropriate and disproportionate,” they said.
“It also raises serious questions around anti-racist training, processes and accountability within the police, and the need to strengthen national legislation on strip-searching.”
They added that, since the 2020 incident, the council had been working closely with the poice, schools and others, including setting up a local community police scrutiny panel.
Mayor Woodley and Cllr Fajana-Thomas said they were also waiting for the IOPC to publish its investigation report, and to find out what sanctions the officers would face.
“This will inform our efforts to actively reverse racism, unconscious bias and adultification, and ensure an incident like this never happens again.”
Campaign group Hackney Stand Up To Racism outright rejected the watchdog’s finding that race was not a factor in Child Q’s “ordeal”.
“The facts do not support this outrageous claim,” said Sasha Simic, an activist with the group.
He pointed to statistics showing the majority of 10-17-year-olds strip-searched by the Met between 2019 and 2021 were Black.
Mr Simic also raised the report into the Child Q case carried out by Hackney’s Child Safeguarding Officer, Jim Gamble.
A former police officer, Mr Gamble said in his inquiry that the children he had spoken to felt there was a “certain inevitability” an incident like this would happen.
“In their view, Child Q was yet another example of a Black child being treated unfairly by the police,” he wrote.
He later said: “Would this have happened to a blond-haired, blue-eyed girl in South Kensington? I do not think it would.”
Simic concluded: “The Met refuses to acknowledge the racism and misogyny which is at the heart of the way it polices London.
“It remains an institutionally racist and discriminatory organisation.”
Much as the police need to be held to account, everybody seems to be not wanting to point the g
Much as the police need to be held to account, everybody seems to be not want to point the finger at the real culprit here. The school.
They were the child's guardian whilst at school.
They were the ones who made the accusations.
They were the ones who when they couldn't prove they were write to accuse her they then stepped over their boundaries and called the police.
The school did not inform her mother.
The school clearly implied that the police were there to carry out a search.
The school did not provide an appropriate adult.
None of this would have happened if the school had behaved in an appropriate and informed way.
This means every parent in Hackney should be aware in sending their child to school they are sending them into a situation where the police could be called and their child/ren will not be safeguarded by the school.
So if the council thinks there is an issue of race in what happened then that it true of the school.
Where has Hackney taken any responsibility for schools in the borough who seem to be willing to put their students at risk.
This is not to defend the police who have been exposed.
But they should never have been in the building.
True of just about any where but also sadly more true in Hackney, and shows how out of touch the school and Hackney are in how they provide a safe and supportive environment for children to learn.
None of us need to be warned about the negative reputation of the police, and worse how a young Black woman had to endure their assault on her. But it is the school who put her in the place of danger.