Over the past 2 days we have been at the PEEL Training Centre, holding sessions with the Metropolitan Police. These sessions come after the Mayor’s action plan for Police Transparency and Accountability in 2020. During that year, the horrific incident took place, when Child Q, aged only 15, was strip-searched by police in a school in Hackney after being wrongfully accused of having cannabis. This young girl was violated by the police’s actions, and suffers extreme PTSD because of the trauma she faced. Along with the many times that stop and search proceeds have been carried out disproportionately among young people from a Black, Asian or Minority community, this case continues to highlight the amount of systemic racism in the way that the Metropolitan Police works with young people from Black, Asian or Minority communities. Black children face trauma and danger at the hands of police officers, and although our country’s standpoint can frame itself as though we have a “lack of racism”, situations like this prove otherwise.
In the last year, let alone the last few months, this is not the first incident to cause horror and disgust towards the Metropolitan Police, and certainly not the first regarding the safety of women and girls. This news comes out only a year after the murder of Sarah Everard, and only a few months after messages in a group chat between police officers were revealed, showcasing both racist and sexist messages. Women and girls are in fear of the police now more than ever and are left feeling as though they have nobody to turn to, including those who are meant to protect the city and its citizens and uphold the law but abuse their power instead. For women and girls in Black, Asian and minority communities, this fear is heightened, as they face harm, due to not just their gender, but also their race. Black girls in particular face more scrutiny and unfair judgement from authority figures wrongly labelling them as more “mature” or as a “threat” compared to their white counterparts, thus criminalising their behaviour and treating them as adults when they are young girls.
Child Q has been receiving numerous amounts of support from the public, and notable figures alike. With protests held outside police stations, signed letters to MPs, social media and news coverage, and online fundraising, everyone is rallying around and showing support towards Child Q. However, support for Child Q is not enough. In order to make sure that something as horrific as this never happens again, we need education and a change in structures and values amongst the police force.
Our sessions with the Metropolitan Police throughout the beginning of this week have been centred around just that; combating these issues by providing education, fostering a sense of compassion, and ultimately with the goal to reform values and actions. Through the use of exercises, case studies, discussions, role-play, and real-life testimonies, we worked to bring the stories of women and girls like Child Q to light. We highlighted the ways that young women, children and girls can end up in unsafe situations, whether through domestic violence, CSE, or mental health issues, and looked at practical ways that the police can help, including the best and most compassionate actions to take. We also discussed how black men and boys are disproportionately stopped and searched, and the effect it has on the mental health of these men and the community. We discussed better ways of dealing and coping with certain situations, and provided helplines for officers to contact that can provide support to young people.
The fear that actions from the police have left on the community are warranted, but it should not be that way. The community should not have to live in fear of those who have been entrusted to a protective role. Trust has been broken, and fear has taken its place, but that trust can be renewed again. It is only with time, compassion, remorse and true growth that the community and police can begin to repair their relationship. As the saying goes, not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.