Six teens strip searched at Strand Road police station in 2022
Report: Policing Board review finds PSNI "appeared to ignore the rules" when conducting strip searches of young people
Police in Derry conducted six strip searches of young people in 2022, it has been confirmed.
The six searches of young people, carried out in the Strand Road Custody Suite, were hioghlighted in a new report carried out by the Policing Board.
The report examined information on all 27 searches acrried out by the PSNI of young people in 2022.
The report was drawn up after concerns were raised by the Children's Law Centre and the human rights charity Amnesty International.
The report said it was difficult to assess if any of the searches were lawful due to an absence of records.
Chief Inspector Gavin Kirkpatrick said: “Strip searching is not a power we use routinely and the decision to conduct a strip search of a young person is never taken lightly.
“There are however occasions when our staff believe an individual has concealed an item that could potentially cause themselves serious harm. We take our statutory obligation to ensure the safety of those in police custody extremely seriously – even more so when it is a young person.”
Of the 27 searches carried out in 2022, 23 were on boys and most were aged 16 or 17.
The report made 10 recommendations, including a new reasonable suspicion test, additional officer training and better record keeping.
SDLP Policing Board member Mark H Durkan said he is deeply concerned by the findings of the review.
The Foyle MLA said: “ “It is of the deepest concern that the PSNI appeared to ignore the rules, that appropriate adults were not present during searches and that there are questions of lawfulness in relation to police conduct. I acknowledge that a balance must be struck in terms of cases whereby a young person was at risk of self-harm, but further information is needed on what prior risk assessments were carried out and why officers felt that circumstances were so urgent that they could not wait for an appropriate adult.
“Again, it must be stressed that these searches should only be conducted as an absolute last resort.
“After years of work to create a human rights based approach to policing, these findings make for hard reading.
“I acknowledge that the PSNI accept that there is still work to do, and this should mean full agreement to the recommendations and their implementation without delay.”
Local Sinn Féin councillor Emma McGinley said the findings of the Policing Board's investigation into the strip searching of children is concerning.
"There are a number of concerning statistics in the report, such as most searches finding nothing illegal. And the overwhelming majority of searches took place without an appropriate adult present.
"Strip searching is one of the most intrusive interactions that occur between police and a child or young person.
"It is hard to figure out what would create the kind of urgency that you can't wait for an appropriate adult.
"We have consistently raised our concerns around these strip-searches. And we will keep this issue under review to make sure the recommendations and learning identified are fully implemented,” Cllr McGinley said.