A conference attended by local groups looked into the ‘traumatic’ repercussions of stop and search on young people, reports Olivia Opara

Haringey Council’s children’s services department in Wood Green

Haringey Children’s Service has revealed findings from a five-year investigation into the stop and search of children.

On Tuesday, 12th December, Haringey Children’s Service hosted a conference at Haringey Sixth Form College in which it shared findings on the safeguarding implications of the use of stop and search on children under the age of 14 by the police. The findings came from a five-year investigation conducted in partnership with the Metropolitan North Borough Command Unit (NBCU) and the Haringey Independent Stop and Search Monitoring Group.

The research used police stop and search records from February 2022 to March 2023, revealing an estimated 7,483 people were stopped and searched – 1,561 of which were children under 18 years old.

Further analysis found that six of the cases had no ‘Merlin’ report and that the children were not from Haringey and that a further eight had a ‘Merlin’ report linked to their case only after the stop and search took place. ‘Merlin’ is a Met IT application used to record the details of vulnerable people aged 17 and under through a pre-assessment check (PAC) and for details of vulnerable adults aged 18 or over through an Adult Come to Notice (ACN).

The research also showed that fourteen of the children lived in households where domestic abuse and violence is an issue and that three of the children are in the Haringey care system, yet the local authorities were not aware or informed of the incidents at the time.

Ann Graham, director of children’s services, said during the conference: “I met the then borough commander of the NBCU in 2018 and we spoke about what we always knew: when young people get stopped and searched nobody gets told about it. And when we spoke, it didn’t feel right.

“Stop and search is traumatic – it may not be traumatic for all but we know that it causes trauma.”

Detective chief superintendent and NBCU chief Caroline Haines added: “Stop and search is such an important tool in policing but we know that it needs to be used in a intelligence-led way. It needs to be used fairly and with respect and consideration of the impact it has on young people – not just in that moment but in the long-term and the generational trauma it has on individuals.”

During the conference, a case study was shared of child TZ who was shot, stabbed and later died in Tottenham in April. The case study found that TZ had been stopped and search 17 times and none were linked to a Merlin report; was known to local youth services but the police youth link officer (overseeing the child’s case) was not notified of penalty notices given to the child; and that their mother’s concerns about their welfare was ignored and dismissed by the family’s GP.

Another case study found that child C, aged 14, was first stopped and searched when they were just 13 and has been stopped and searched seven times. Child C did not disclose the incidents to their social worker as they felt “ashamed” and “avoided spending time in areas where they were stopped and searched” which impacted their school attendance and friendships.

As a result of the investigation, Haringey Council is piloting a new self-reporting mobile app, ‘The Missing’, for young people to be able to log and document when they are stopped and searched. The young people can then share a copy of these with trusted adults and copies are sent to the children’s service team to follow-up within 72 hours when the system picks up on recurring patterns and incidents.

Cabinet member for children, schools, and families Zena Brabazon said: “I think that this has been an extraordinary project that has been five years in the making with research done literally through the drive and commitment of the children’s services.

“Through their tenacity and the willingness of the local Haringey and Enfield police to participate, they have done a very rich piece of research showing some patterns and threads which links the children who have been stopped to their stories and their family histories.

“It shows that stop and search needs to be used as a link to understand what is happening rather than as a punitive tool and for that we need this project to be continued and expanded so that it can be used to identify children that need support and help.”

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