Two Metropolitan Police officers have been dismissed for gross misconduct after strip-searching a 15-year-old Black schoolgirl, known as Child Q, at her Hackney school in December 2020. The search was carried out without an appropriate adult, without senior authorisation, and without providing a search record—clear breaches of safeguarding rules.

A misconduct panel found the search “disproportionate, inappropriate and unnecessary,” leaving the girl feeling degraded and traumatised. Public outrage followed after a safeguarding review revealed the details, prompting protests and renewed scrutiny of how Black children are policed.