The proposal, included in updated draft guidance to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) codes of practice, has been introduced in response to failings in the case of Child Q in 2020.
The 15-year-old black girl was strip-searched at her London school by police officers while on her period after being wrongly accused of possessing cannabis.
The experience was deeply traumatic for the child and prompted protests about police discrimination. A review, carried out by the City and Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership in 2022 concluded that Child Q should never have been strip-searched.
In its response to the updated PACE guidance, the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) says it is unclear what would be achieved by referring all cases where police conduct an intimate search or one that exposes the intimate parts (EIP) of a child.
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