Episode 141: Met Police apologises for strip-search of Hackney schoolgirl

In this weeks episode we discuss a black schoolgirl who was strip-searched by police after being wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis.The "traumatic" search by Metropolitan Police officers took place without another adult present at the girl's secondary school in Hackney in 2020.A safeguarding report on the incident concluded it was unjustified and racism was "likely" to have been a factor.Scotland Yard said the officers' actions were "regrettable" and it "should never have happened".According to the report, the impact on the pupil - referred to as Child Q - was "profound" and the repercussions "obvious and ongoing".Family members described her as changing from a "happy-go-lucky girl to a timid recluse that hardly speaks", who now self-harms and needs therapy.