Two agents of the London metropolitan police were sent back this Thursday after being found guilty of serious misconduct for ordering an unjustified full excavation on a 15 -year -old teenager in 2020.
The case, which had aroused a strong emotion in the United Kingdom, concerns a young black girl naked in the infirmary of her school, without the presence of a third-party adult, while she was menstruated. At the time, she was suspected – wrongly – to have cannabis. No illegal product had been found.
A “useless” and “humiliating” excavation
On Thursday, a disciplinary committee concluded that the two police officers having authorized the procedure (a man and a woman) had committed a serious fault. They were dismissed without notice. A third agent, who excavated with his colleague, was sanctioned with a warning for professional misconduct.
According to Jason Prins, president of the disciplinary committee, the excavation was “disproportionate”, “useless” and “humiliating”. However, he estimated that there had been no discriminatory treatment linked to the teenager’s skin color.
Trauma for the teenager
The case, which occurred in the London district of Hackney, had caused demonstrations and a wave of indignation in this multicultural area in eastern London. The girl had been deeply traumatized. “We know that this incident has had a significant and lasting impact on its well-being”
British police police director Amanda Rowe said that at the “heart of this case was a child, in a vulnerability position, that the agents did not protected and that they have unjustifiedly submitted to a naked excavation. »»
Our file on the United Kingdom
Black children four times more targeted
Commander Kevin Southworth, of the London police, recognized “organizational failures”, while saying that reforms have been set up since.
In 2024, the British Childhood Commissioner denounced the excessive frequency of full excavations on minors, often deemed “useless” and four times more targeted on black children. The total number of these interventions, however, decreased by 42 % between 2020 and 2022, in particular in London.
