
Black Lives Matter UK cautioned that more needs to be done to protect children from police misconduct.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct, a police watchdog group for England and Wales, have called for increased measures to stop what it calls the “adultification” of Black children in the two countries.
According to The Guardian, the group describes adultification as a racial bias that primarily affects Black children and includes seeing those children as more “streetwise,” “grown-up,” and less innocent and vulnerable.
Although police reform advocates welcome the IOPC’s new guidelines, they also called for a “fundamental shift” in the way children are treated by the police.
According to IOPC director general Rachel Watson, “We recognize the commitment across policing to improve the way it handles race discrimination and have seen good progress in some areas including complaint handling – but a lot more needs to be done.”
Watson continued, “Too often black communities feel overpoliced as suspects and underprotected. We want to support the police to improve how they deal with race discrimination, to ensure that everyone can have trust and confidence in policing.”
Jahnine Davis, a leading expert in the United Kingdom on adultification and the director of Listen Up, a company that focuses on elevating voices regarding the safety of children, practice and policy, told the outlet that the attention being brought to adultification via the new guidelines is a positive.
“My organization has delivered adultification training to forces nationwide. Attitudes and beliefs can and do change,” Davis said. “However, lasting change requires a fundamental shift towards prioritizing the welfare of children in all interactions. A child first approach is needed, especially for Black children, who are more likely to experience the harsh consequences of this bias. It is as much a children’s rights issue, as it is a safeguarding one.”
The statement from Black Lives Matter UK also cautioned that more still needs to be done to protect children from police misconduct.
“Four years on, Child Q is still haunted by her experience with the police. The IOPC’s new package will not prevent future traumatization of children through strip-search. Rather, half-measures like this still leave space for police to make so-called mistakes, which can traumatize children for life.”
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Source: Black Enterprise