More than 150 under-18s were strip-searched by police officers in Thames Valley, a new report reveals.

The Children's Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel De Souza, has found thousands of cases of children being strip-searched across England and Wales.

Her research found Thames Valley Police carried out 181 strip-searches of children aged between eight and 17 from 2018 to mid-2022.

Dame Rachel described the practice as "intrusive and potentially traumatic" to children involved, adding it should be subject to greater safeguards and scrutiny.

Thames Valley Police has taken the findings on board and says it will be holding interactions with children to a higher degree of scrutiny.

Assistant Chief Constable for Crime and Justice at Thames Valley Police, Dennis Murray, said: “It is vital that we as police Forces act with legitimacy and are trusted by the public.

“The report by the Children’s Commissioner is a vital one and we will be looking closely at the findings and recommendations to make sure that any interaction we have with a child is held to a higher scrutiny and that we are protecting children rather than harming them."

The investigation comes after a fifteen-year-old black girl from East London known as 'Child Q' was strip-searched by the Met Police in 2020 without another adult present.

The incident sparked protests when it came to light in 2022.

The research revealed a total of 2,847 strip-searches took place between 2018 and mid-2022 of children aged between eight and 17 across England and Wales.

The report noted as several forces did not respond to their request, this figure should be considered a minimum.

Constable Murray added: “In light of the incident involving Child Q, we as a Force conducted a full review to make sure our practices were correct, and we have made changes as recommendations have been made nationally.

“We will again review our practices in light of the recommendations within the Commissioners report and make changes where they are needed.

“We will treat children with respect, dignity and work to protect them.” 

Across England and Wales the vast majority of youngsters strip-searched were boys (95%) and about 38% of children strip-searched were black.

Police guidelines state searches should only be carried out within view of officers of the same gender – but the Commissioner found 6% had taken place in the presence of an officer of another gender.

Dame Rachel said: "We’ve seen growing evidence that children are being failed by those whose job it is to protect them."

"Much more work is required to create a culture among the police in which children are, first and foremost, treated as children," she added.