A police watchdog has announced disciplinary proceedings against four officers involved in the strip-search of a 15-year-old Black girl, known as Child Q – after she was wrongly accused of carrying cannabis in 2020. Following the incident, she and her family reported “profound” consequences to the intimate search, which took place at her school without an appropriate adult present or with a supervisor’s authorisation. Here, writer Vivienne Dovi unpicks the issues of child abuse, racism and adultification bias that this incident has raised – and asks: when will these institutions do more to protect Black children?
In 2020, a Black 15-year old schoolgirl experienced a traumatic and humiliating encounter at the hands of those who are supposed to protect her. The schoolgirl, referred to as Child Q, was pulled out of an exam at her school in Hackney after being wrongly accused of smelling like cannabis. Four Metropolitan Police officers were called and they proceeded to strip-search Child Q to see if she was in possession of drugs while no other adult was present. Child Q’s teachers waited outside of the room and no one notified her parents. Even though Child Q was menstruating, they forced her to remove her sanitary towel – an act of complete violation. No drugs were found.
Although this harrowing event happened three years ago, the public learnt of it due to the release of a safeguarding report in 2021. The report concluded that racism was “likely” to have been a factor in the incident and the Metropolitan Police issued an apology to Child Q.
Let’s be real here: for every Black person who has come across this story, we know this situation couldn’t have happened without the obvious layers of racism. The outrage we feel is not unfamiliar to us.
It’s not coincidental that a child who wore locs was accused of possessing cannabis, as Child Q was racially profiled. Negative tropes that saturate stereotypes of Black people were used to make assumptions of her behaviour. If Child Q was not from a marginalised community, the story would have ended very differently.
Equally, it’s not unfamiliar to hear that a 15-year old Black child was instantly treated as a criminal. Her teachers called police officers on a child and did not notify her parents, while the officers forced Child Q to bend over, spread her legs and cough in order to search for drugs – the very same search that new prisoners have to do. Not only was Child Q treated like a criminal, but also an adult who didn’t require supervision. Treating a Black child as a young, mature woman and not a harmless schoolgirl – otherwise known as adultification bias – subjected Child Q to both racial discrimination and child abuse.
Many of us who went through the British education system have seen or experienced countless cases of racism. While I’ve had my fair share of incidents – like when I was told to change my manner at school to avoid being seen as ‘aggressive, ghetto or angry’ – there are more severe cases surrounding drug accusations, expulsion rates being disproportionally higher for Black children and even Black teachers dealing with racial discrimination as they try to progress in their careers. The education system continuously provides a hostile and racist environment for Black children, youth and adults.