Police Scotland Policy: Stop and Search of Children.

Police Scotland has reneged on a commitment to abolish stop searches on young children, according to data obtained by BBC Scotland.

Assistant Chief Constable Wayne Mawson told a Holyrood committee in June that the "indefensible" practice of consensual searches on children under the age of 12 would be scrapped.

Since then, 356 children have been searched by police.

Two thirds of these searches were consensual, and 91% recovered no items.

Following the publication of these figures,the Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Alison McInnesannounced she would be seeking to recall Mr Mawson to the justice committee.

She said: "People deserve to know why Police Scotland haven't kept their word on scrapping this unregulated and illiberal position.

"If it is the case that this practice is continuing, it would be reasonable to question if the police misled parliament."

There were 436,288 stop-searches between January and November last year, with 654 involving children aged under 12.

By comparison, London's Metropolitan force - which polices a population greater than that of Scotland - searched 19 children under nine in the last year, compared to 159 by Police Scotland.

However, the number of searches by officers in Scotland, on children aged eight to 12, hasdecreased from the 2,912 carried out between April and December 2013.

'Fairly indefensible'
Police Scotland has said the tactic has contributed tocrime being at a 40-year low, with violent crime down by 10%.

Mr Mawson met a Scottish parliamentary committee in Juneto discuss the controversial policing tactic.

He also announced a pilot scheme in Fife in which the parents of all children subject to stop and search would be given a letter explaining why.

Mr Mawson told the justice committee: "From here on in, we should not search young children who are under the age of consent.

"That must stop - that is the message that I will be putting out.

"However, we cannot delay - I am not going to wait six months for the Fife pilot to end because the current position is fairly indefensible."

Since the committee hearing, stop and searches on children have actually increased from 45 in July, to 74 in November.

Children were most often searched for weapons (288), alcohol (152) and stolen property (125) between January and November 2014.

A dozen searches for firearms resulted in the recovery of three weapons - one of the children was as young as eight.

The majority of searches on children took place in Wishaw and Motherwell (48), Govan and Craigton (43), and the southeast of Glasgow (42).

Professor Alan Miller, chairman of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, told BBC Scotland that consensual stop searches should be abolished as they are "almost certainly unlawful."

He said: "Children are very vulnerable and they can't be expected to know what their rights are, or to be able to stand up for themselves.

"And it doesn't create a good relationship going forward between these young people and the police as they get older."

The data also revealed:

The most searches in 2014 were conducted in Glasgow (140,012), South Lanarkshire (36,796) and Renfrewshire (35,252);

Proportionally though, the most searches were conducted in Glasgow (2,362 per 10,000 people), Inverclyde (2,097 per 10,000 people) and Renfrewshire (2,070 per 10,000 people).

The fewest searches were conducted in the Western Isles (89);

The most searches were conducted in January (45,436), with a monthly average of 39,565;

Most searches were made for drugs (47%), alcohol (30%) and weapons (16%);
There were low detection rates for searches for weapons (5%) and drugs (14%);

A single officer in Inverclyde was responsible for conducting 1,641 searches with a 25% detection rate;
84% of searches were conducted on males.

Assistant Chief Constable Nelson Telfer told BBC Scotland stop-search was a valuable tool in helping officers keep people safe.

He said: "Our data shows that a small number of under 12s were stop searched.

"Police officers will positively engage with young people and children and there are times when that engagement may move to a search which can result in the use of stop and search and often the removal of alcohol, cigarettes and other items.

"These interventions are vital in protecting the health and wellbeing of young people and children, and parents would expect us to remove alcohol and other harmful items from their children to keep them safe and prevent them becoming an offender or a victim."

He added: "Last year Police Scotland announced an undertaking to cease consensual searching of children less than 12 years of age. To support this decision, we have been reviewing searches of those aged between ages one and 11. This review is ongoing."

Anybody surprised they have renaged on the promise???

The premise that if "it helps reduce crime" then it's acceptable doesn't wash with me.

 

There are plenty of kids out there under 12 who get up to some pretty serious 'mischief'.

Personally, I'd rather the local polis were still able to get them to turn out their pockets in the street if something has been alleged against them, or they've been acting suspiciously. The alternative is for the cops to take the kid home and search them in front of their parents. Or if their parents aren't home, off to the local polis station to wait for social work to arrive and supervise the search there.

Complete waste of time.

 

356 searches, 91% found no items.

Another monumental waste of time by the police state and there is something not right about this anyway.

 

The criminal age of responsibility in Scotland is 8 , the age at which they can be prosecuted is 12 , there are times though where children between 8 and 12 can be placed if necessary in front of a children's hearing ....yes children under 12 commit crime and the police need to be seen to act...There are cases of * criminals using the under 12s as mules to carry drugs so they can't be prosecuted . Is this what we want to encourage our young children to do ? Or do the police continue to search ?

 

Interesting.

Can I ask your opinion on whether you believe Police officers should be allowed to carry a firearm with them on Routine patrols???

 

What does that have to do with kids being stopped and searched under certain circumstances?

 

91% of searches turned up nothing. They are clearly going about it the wrong way.

There has to be some suspicion of foul play before stop and searches are carried out. 91% fail rate would suggest they are just stop searching any youngster they come across.

It's disturbing as well and open to abuse of all kinds. This doesn't sit right with me at all.

 

Which means that 9% turned up something though, right? Part of that 9% resulted in a weapon being removed from a child as young as eight.

I wonder what the outcry would be if that kid had gone on to do someone some real harm with the weapon in question?

 

Nope.

There should, however, be an armed response vehicle available at all times to all areas for those rare occasions that a firearms response is necessary.

 

9% is far too low a success rate to continue in the same vein. There has to be a reasonable suspicion of wrong doing for this and the figures certainly don't show that to be the case, unless of course it's the * keystone cops doing the stop/searches and they actually misread the situation 9 times out of ten.

 

You think so? I think almost 10% is an acceptable rate to suggest that searches like this are warranted.

As I said, they took a weapon away from a kid who was eight years old. These checks could have potentially saved his or someone else's life.

 

And that's where the police often find themselves... stuck between a rock and a hard place.

If someone alleges that a kid may have a weapon, drugs, or stolen property on them, then the police are obliged to do something about it. They can't just ignore it.

Ask most folk if they have anything naughty on them and they will say no - so they have to look in pockets!

The stats presented show that 91% of the time it turns up nothing. So 91% of the time it's a 2 minute encounter where there is little disruption to anyone. If the police will now have to take them back home, or to a polis station and wait for social workers, then that is a *-load of wasted time, and a great deal of disruption for the kid, the police, the parents, and social work.

It's nonsense!

 

Agreed. I think 9% is a decent rate. I work part time in security and if I was doing searches at a gig or festival and found something on 9 out of 100 people I'd be happy with that

 

There's no suggestion in the article that it's weapons that are being found on the kids, is there?

 

[ame]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BUXlFVIVvww[/ame]

 

Also;

 

There has always had to be reasonable suspicion for a search, and the cop conducting the search has always had to be prepared to justify that suspicion if challenged by anyone.

Folk engaged in criminal activity don't exhibit signs above their head saying 'search here'. They conceal it. So there's going to be a lot of wrong calls.

Bear in mind that a number of those searches will have been instigated by phone calls from the public. Again, the police cannot just ignore the content of the phone call - even if it is anonymous. As Daibhi says... what if they did ignore it and it's that one in a hundred chance where something bad happens as a result?

Then they will be castigated on websites like this by people like you for not doing their job properly!

Can't win!

 

So three weapons were recovered in thirty six cases where the child had something they shouldn't have, from three hundred and fifty-six searches in total.

 

No, three weapons were found in twelve searches, and an officer in Inverclyde has a 25% detection rate.

You surely cannot be looking at those numbers and thinking the police are wasting their time, can you?

 

I remember being 'stopped and searched' when I was about 14. Thing is i wasn't a ned - i was wearing jeans and a shirt, or something like that. I was a pretty inconspicuous lad.

It does feel like you are getting the * ripped out of you, especially if you are a normal citizen?

What age does stop and search stop, if at all?

Also, what are your rights? If i'm not mistaken, as an * you don't have to do a thing for the police, other than give your name, even then you can just show them id and tell them to move along.

EDIT: Unsurprisingly I lived in Inverclyde - stop and search happy.