Norfolk’s PCC says county’s police is in “better place” than others on strip searches
Norfolk Police has a dedicated panel which can scrutinise and review whether this practice is proportionate and valid
Norfolk’s Police and Crime commissioner has told us that our county’s police is in “better place” than others on strip searches.
He says it's thanks to a panel set up in 2018- which can scrutinise and review whether this practice is proportionate and valid- particularly when it comes to children.
"You need to maintain the scrutiny to make sure that things are going well"
But Giles Orpen Smellie says there’s still work to do, after 62 searches were carried out on children in the last 5 years across Norfolk and Suffolk:
"I would not wish to be complacent. Dame Rachel De Souza's report is a timely reminder to lift the stones and check again.
"Until you look, you don't know and when you've look it's only at that particularly moment, so you need to maintain the scrutiny to make sure that things are going well".
"It's really important that there is scrutiny for somebody who hasn't had enough training, you will find that one or two people just haven't grasped the training and that supervision and scrutiny stops those errors being made, with the best of intentions."
"You need to know whether that is the case"
He told us a bit more about the force's oversight body:
"It's made up of members of the independent custody visitors scheme. So they are properly vetted, they have access to all the information and can go into custody suites to have a look at any strip searches that have happened."
Mr Orpen-Smellie does say these searches still have their place:
"If you find somebody who you think might be carrying a knife, or you think might be carrying drugs - you need to know whether that is the case.
"Strip searches are one golf club in the bag of measures that a police officer can use. In the case of minors, it's got to be used with great care."