Police officers who strip searched a black schoolgirl while she was on her period should be sacked if they are found guilty of wrongdoing, Sadiq Khan has said.

The Mayor of London has intervened in the case by calling for charges to be upgraded to gross misconduct after a safeguarding report stated racism had a role in the officers’ decision.

The report found that the “traumatic” search by Metropolitan Police officers at the end of 2020 took place at the girl’s school without another adult present, and in the knowledge that she was menstruating.

It said that racism “was likely to have been an influencing factor” in the decision to carry out the search on the girl, referred to as Child Q in the report.

After teachers called the police to the 15-year-old girl’s school, they conducted a strip search where the schoolgirl’s intimate body parts were exposed and she was made to take off her sanitary towel, according to the review.

Racism played a role

Mr Khan wrote to the Independent Office for Police Conduct on Wednesday to argue that the officers involved should be charged with gross misconduct rather than misconduct because of the review’s finding that racism had a role in the decision to conduct the strip search.

Mr Khan said he read the report with “dismay and disgust”, adding: “I understand that in line with statutory guidance, allegations of discrimination would normally be considered at the level of gross misconduct rather than misconduct.”

He said the sole reason for the search was the smell of cannabis, an issue which had previously been addressed by the IOPC, the College of Policing and City Hall’s Action Plan, published in November 2020.

The plan states: “The IOPC therefore recommends that the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) take steps to ensure that their officers are not relying on the smell of cannabis alone when deciding to stop and search someone and use grounds based upon multiple objective factors.”