POLICE officers abuse their power to intimidate, humiliate and silence young women and girls from ethnic minorities, according to research published today by monitoring organisation Stopwatch.

A team of girls and young women conducted interviews with 25 black, Asian and minority ethnic girls and young women in London and Manchester.

Testimonies revealed systemic patterns of police misconduct during public interactions including pedestrian stops, traffic stops, strip searches and arrests. 

One interviewee said police officers “made jokes about the way I smelled, my clothes and my pubic hair” during a strip search. 

In another incident, a 14-year-old girl recalled being strip searched over her friend forgetting her Oyster card.

One interviewee said she was made to squat during a strip search, despite it being against the College of Policing’s authorised professional practice.

The officers who searched later admitted they were not looking for an item, and had “conducted the search to punish her.”

A quarter of those searched were not given a reason, the survey found.

None of the girls and women searched received a record of the encounter from the police — a legal requirement.

Most interviewees, half of whom were black, were not given a reason for being stopped. 

Of the findings, peer researcher Sara Owusu said: “I’ve had some traumatic stop-and-search encounters and I’ve experienced first-hand humiliation and fear.

“Becoming a peer researcher was my way of taking control of that narrative... of letting people understand that my experiences don’t define me as a victim, but could be the fuel to the research.”

The report calls for tightening the standards for thorough stop searches, demanding that they be conducted by the police station’s custody healthcare practitioner rather than by officers.

It demands that the searches be followed by a safeguarding referral to third-party support organisations.

Researchers also urged for children to be presumed innocent, treated as exploited victims rather than offenders, and protected from the use of force during stop and searches.

Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said:“We support StopWatch’s recommendations that no child should be strip-searched by the police. This violation of girls’ rights causes significant trauma and harm.

“Black girls and boys are commonly ‘adultified’ — regarded and treated as if they are adults, rather than children.

“Institutions like policing must confront and address this to ensure that victims of crime receive the protection they deserve and that children are protected from abuse at the hands of the state.”

The Home Office was contacted for comment.