FOI 557/25

Please provide information about child strip searches undertaken by South Wales Police from January 2023 to January 2025, cross referenced by postcode, featuring information such as the ethnicity of the child who has been strip searched.

RESPONSE

We consulted with our analysts who have provided the below response to your request.

Please see the below table which provides the number of child strip searches undertaken by South Wales Police during the requested time frame, broken down by ethnicity. Please note, unfortunately, we are unable to break this information by post code as our data does not provide that level of detail.

South Wales Police have invested significant focus on occasions where strip searches of children take place. To provide added scrutiny on the application of the power, South Wales Police have adopted the following measures to ensure each child strip search has the required oversight and review:

• In South Wales Police a Code A child strip search requires authority from a Superintendent or above. In PACE the authority from an Inspector is required.
• Except in cases of urgency, where there is risk of serious harm to the detainee or to others, whenever a strip search involves exposure of intimate body parts, there must be at least two people present other than the detainee, and if the search is of a child or otherwise mentally vulnerable person, one of the people present must be an appropriate adult.

• A safeguarding referral must be submitted for onward referral to children’s services where any child is subject of a strip search.
• Following on from the above measures, there is a central organisational review of every child strip search to check compliance in each of the categories.

In addition, South Wales Police review and scrutinise all child strip searches at both Silver and Force Use of Police Powers Board, chaired by the Assistant Chief Constable.