Strip-searching children is “unpleasant but necessary” to protect them and others from drugs and weapons, Britain’s most senior police officer has said.
Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, said it was acknowledged how “tragic” it was that children were being drawn into serious crime, but he backed his officers to use the power to keep the public safe.
This year 55 children have been strip-searched in London compared with 123 during the same period last year and 208 in 2021, the police and crime committee was told at City Hall on Thursday.
Caroline Russell, a member of the London Assembly, said it was encouraging that the numbers were falling.
