Updated 17 March: The internet has erupted in outrage after details of the Met’s decision to strip search a 15-year-old Black girl on her period emerged earlier this week.

The girl – who is known as ‘Child Q’ – was subjected to the search (which was conducted without an appropriate adult present) because her teacher said she smelt strongly of cannabis and was concerned she was carrying drugs.

A safeguarding review has now concluded that the search was “insufficiently attuned to her best interests or right to privacy” and was “likely” to have been influenced by racism – and the publication of the review has led many to question the actions of the police as a whole.

As such, people have been taking to Twitter to share their outrage at the treatment of Child Q – and share their opinion about what needs to happen next.

“My heart breaks for Child Q and her family,” wrote the actor Nathalie Emmanuel. “Shame on her school and the @metpoliceuk who failed her, abused her and traumatised her. Wishing healing for her and FULL accountability of every adult responsible for this trauma inflicted upon her.” 

She continued: “The ‘adultification’ of black children means they are often denied the care or protections we have in place for children… and their assumed guilt justifies abusive treatment by those who are supposed to protect them. It makes me sick.” 

And the Labour MP Diane Abbott posted a screenshot of a letter she had written to the Hackney Borough Commander asking for an urgent meeting, adding: “The indignities that Child Q was subjected to are not an aberration, they’re part of a bigger picture of institutional racism and discrimination within policing. I’m appalled this happened in Hackney and I’ve written to the Borough Commander demanding an urgent meeting #ChildQ.” 

The barrister and author Alexandra Wilson also responded: “I’m devastated to read what happened to Child Q. The report describes dehumanising behaviour and we should all be shocked by what happened. I just hope she no longer feels the humiliation and fear she must have felt that day. We need more than outrage. We need change.” 

As reported 16 March: A 15-year-old Black girl was subjected to a strip search by Metropolitan Police officers while on her period because she was wrongly suspected of carrying drugs, a child safeguarding review has revealed.

According to the report, which was published earlier this month, the “traumatic” search took place at the girl’s school in Hackney, east London, without an appropriate adult present. The police were called to the school because teachers said the girl smelt strongly of cannabis and were concerned she was carrying drugs.

Not only were the girl’s intimate body parts exposed during the search – which was conducted by two female police officers – but she was also made to remove her sanitary towel, and the search was carried out without parental consent. 

A senior local authority figure described her treatment as “humiliating, traumatising and utterly shocking”, and the report concluded that racism was “likely to have been an influencing factor” in the decision to undertake the search in the first place. 

It also said it was highly likely that “adultification bias” had played a part in the girl’s case – where adults perceive Black children as older than they are because they see them to be more ‘streetwise’.

The impact on the girl has been described as “profound” – and the repercussions of the event are said to be “obvious and ongoing”. Indeed, the girl’s maternal aunt told the review she had been transformed from a “happy go lucky girl” to a “timid recluse” who “gets panic attacks”.  

Sharing her experiences in a written account, the girl – who is referred to throughout the report as Child Q – said she can’t go a single day “without wanting to scream, shout, cry or just give up”.

“Someone walked into the school, where I was supposed to feel safe, took me away from the people who were supposed to protect me and stripped me naked, while on my period,” she said.

“I feel like I’m locked in a box, and no one can see or cares that I just want to go back to feeling safe again, my box is collapsing around me, and no one wants to help. I don’t know if I’m going to feel normal again. I don’t know how long it will take to repair my box. But I do know this can’t happen to anyone, ever again. 

“All the people that allowed this to happen need to be held responsible. I was held responsible for a smell.” 

The Metropolitan Police have since apologised for the events that took place, and the Independent Office for Police Conduct are now investigating.

In a statement, Detective Superintendent Dan Rutland, of the Met’s Central East Command, said: “We recognise that the findings of the safeguarding review reflect this incident should never have happened.

“It is truly regrettable and on behalf of the Met Police I would like to apologise to the child concerned, her family and the wider community.” 

Images: Getty