Police strip-searched a schoolgirl after she was wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis.
The “traumatic” search by Metropolitan Police officers took place at the girl’s school without the presence of another adult.
A protection report on the incident concluded that it was unjustified and that racism was “likely” to be a factor.
Scotland Yard apologized, saying the incident “should never have happened”.
According to the report, the impact on the high school student, dubbed Child Q, was “profound” and the repercussions “obvious and ongoing.”
Family members described her as changing from a “happy-go-lucky little girl to a shy recluse who barely speaks”, who is now self-harming and in need of therapy.
Police were called to a school in Hackney in late 2020 by teachers who told investigators they were concerned the teenager had drugs in her possession because she smelled of cannabis.
They took her to the medical room and two policewomen searched her without clothes, while the teachers remained outside.
During the ordeal, her private body parts were exposed and she was forced to remove her sanitary pad, according to the review. No drugs were found.
Her family strongly believes the strip search was a racist incident, and the review found that her experiences “would not have been the same” had she not been black.
The local child protection practice review, published in March, was conducted by the City & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership (CHSCP).
He said it was very likely that “adultification bias” was a factor, where adults perceive black children as older than they are because they see them as “wiser.”
In a written statement to the review, the girl said she wanted everyone who allowed the strip search to happen “to be held accountable.”
She said: “I need to know that the people who have done this to me cannot do it to anyone else, in fact no one else can do this to any other child in their care.”
Investigators found that school staff submitted to police authority and “should have been more defiant.”
This has been accepted by the school, with one staff member saying, “I have never known, nor would I condone, a strip search of a young person at a school site.”
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) was now investigating, the Met confirmed.
Detective Superintendent Dan Rutland of the Met Central Command East said: “We recognize that the findings of the protection review reflect that this incident should never have occurred.
“It is truly unfortunate and on behalf of the Metropolitan Police I would like to apologize to the girl in question, her family and the wider community.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan this was a “deeply disturbing case” that no child should have to face and he would be “closely watching” the IOPC review.
The Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Hackney Council condemned the “humiliating, traumatizing and absolutely shocking treatment” of police officers.
They have requested a report in six to nine months on progress made on the review’s eight findings and 14 recommendations.
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