A failure to safeguard female victims of crime. Unlawful strip searches used as a disciplinary tool. Unnecessary use of force during routine stops, often resulting in trauma. These are some of the shocking encounters with police experienced by racialised girls and young women surveyed for an upcoming StopWatch report.
Under the ‘About Us. By Us. For Us’ participatory action model of research, a team of girls and young women conducted semi-structured interviews of 25 Black, Asian and Mixed-race girls and young women in London and Manchester. The respondents’ testimonies unveil recurring patterns of police misconduct on a systemic scale, including: failing to safeguard victims of crime; minimising victims’ experiences; acting against protocol; verbal or emotional abuse; undertaking dangerous manoeuvres which escalated encounters; taking disproportionate measures in response to non-threatening behaviour; harassment; using police powers as an intimidation tactic; turning a blind eye to other officers’ misconduct; and acting above the law.
One interviewee said police officers ‘made jokes about the way I smelled, my clothes and my pubic hair’ during a strip search. Another reported being made to squat during a strip search – against the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice – before the officers who searched her admitted that they ‘were not looking for an item’ and had ‘conducted the search to punish her’.
The survey found that:
- Of those interviewees who were searched, a quarter were not given a reason for the search
- None of the girls and women searched received a legally required record of the encounter from the police
- A quarter of interviewees who were searched were also strip searched, the majority of whom are Black
- Just over a quarter of respondents reported getting stopped by police while in a vehicle. All of them were Black
- The majority of interviewees were not given a reason for their stop, half of whom were Black
Speaking about the project, peer researcher Sara Owusu said:
‘I've had some traumatic stop and search encounters and I’ve experienced first hand humiliation and fear. Becoming a peer researcher was my way of taking control of that narrative... of letting people understand that my experiences don't define me as a victim, but could be the fuel to the research.’
The report’s findings have empowered the girls and women involved to push for the following recommendations to help improve interactions between women and the police:
- A presumption of innocence for children, to be treated as exploited victims rather than offenders
- Prohibition of the use of force against children during stop and searches
- A tightening of the standards for More Thorough Searches and Exposure of Intimate Parts searches in the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act 1984 Codes
- Amending PACE to ensure that in the event of release following an arrest, individuals (especially vulnerable girls and women) are able to get home safely (that is, that they have enough money to travel and are fully and appropriately clothed), or ensure that a family member or friend collects them from the station
- Police statutory bodies (HMICFRS and the IOPC) should be granted the power to adopt a responsive regulation approach to hold police forces accountable for noncompliance.
The Girls and Young Women’s project is a piece of Participatory Action Research centring the lives of girls and young women impacted by policing #GIRLSMATTERTOO
We’d like to thank the National Lottery for their funding assistance in helping us to realise the project.
