UK report: Black kids 6 times likelier to be strip-searched

LONDON (AP) — A new report from England’s children’s commissioner has found that Black children in England and Wales were six times more likely to be strip searched by police. The report being released Monday found nearly 3,000 children were strip-searched between 2018 and mid-2022. More than half the searches were conducted without an appropriate adult present. The investigation was launched after a 15-year-old menstruating girl, identified as “Child Q,” was strip-searched by female officers at school in 2020 without another adult present. The search for suspected marijuana found none. A previous report said racism was a likely factor for the search.