UK police are disproportionately targeting Black children for strip searches, with many such searches failing to follow official guidelines, according to new findings that come just days after a report condemned endemic racism in the London Metropolitan Police force.
More than a third of police strip searches against children are made against Black boys, a report published Monday said, even as Black children account for around 6% of the UK’s school pupils. Black children overall are six times more likely to be strip searched compared to the national public.
