The aim of police custody is to not punish however to acquire dependable proof in relation to a suspected offence. But analysis signifies that many kids make no remark in police interview and no additional motion is taken following the vast majority of little one detentions. The method is revealed regularly to be totally counter-productive.
The younger witnesses to the Inquiry additionally spoke about being strip searched – an expertise which they described as ‘horrific’ and ‘dehumanising’, even the place officers had been performing respectfully in conducting the search. Some kids and younger folks described being strip searched repeatedly, an expertise which made them wish to run from the police, serving solely to make an additional strip search extra doubtless. Repeated strip search isn’t unusual. Within the yr to March 2024, 200 kids had been strip searched in police custody greater than as soon as, 67 additional kids had been strip searched 3 or extra instances, together with 19 kids who had been strip searched 5 or extra instances. Nonetheless the out there information is incomplete, and doesn’t reveal essential data akin to the extent of clothes eliminated and whether or not an applicable grownup was current or not.
While the proof to the Inquiry instructed that the overwhelming majority of officers do their finest to mitigate the affect of strip search, some accounts offered by younger witnesses included complaints of belittling and racist behaviour by looking officers. Unsurprisingly, such behaviour made the expertise notably distressing and additional undermined kids’s belief within the police.
