Police accused of ‘re-traumatising’ Black child after he was seized by armed police for having a water pistol

The Metropolitan Police have “further traumatised an already vulnerable Black child” who its armed officers mistakenly held at gunpoint last year, a leading activist has warned.

The 14-year-old, known as Child X, suffered injuries after he was rammed off his bike by a police van and handcuffed as he was confronted by marksmen in Hackney, east London, in July 2023, after they wrongly thought his water pistol was a real gun .

Campaign group the Alliance for Police Accountability (APA) condemned the child’s treatment, saying his water pistol was unmistakably a toy and that the incident demonstrated the “adultification” of Black children .

It has since emerged that officers turned up at Child X’s home on 30 May and seized his phone claiming that he’s suspected of being involved in a crime - something the family has denied.

APA will host an “urgent” community meeting on Thursday evening in London to discuss the Met Police’s “persistent and ongoing harassment” of Child X and his family and Hackney Council’s lack of response to the case.

Speaking to The Independent, rally organiser Lee Jasper, chair of the APA and veteran activist, accused the police of “subjecting the family to an invasive and unjust search” and referenced the strip-searching of a 15-year-old Black girl known as Child Q.

“Despite all the apparent lessons that Hackney Council says it learned from the review of the Child Q case, what we found is we couldn’t access any trauma support for that family - so this had to be independently sourced by Black Sox, the Black Equity Organisation and Hackney CVS had to source trauma intervention for the child and his neighbours.”

An internal investigation by the Metropolitan Police found no misconduct had been committed by the officers involved in the armed officer’s response to Child X last year.

Following public pressure, the IOPC launched an investigation into the incident last year which remains ongoing.

Following the case of Child X being reported by the media in October 2023, Hackney Council said the City and Hackney Child Safeguarding Partnership (CHCSP) would “undertake a rapid safeguarding review” .

The CHSCP is the key statutory body overseeing arrangements for safeguarding children and young people in the City of London and the Hackney borough.

Ms Benjamin added that the body would “be looking to attend community meetings” to hear from residents, and would comment further once the review is published.

However, campaigners have criticised the council for failing to prioritise the review or engage with Child X’s family in a meaningful way.

“15 months later, we've got no outcome,” Mr Jasper, a former mayoral policy advisor, said. “Neither can the council be bothered to send anybody to tomorrow’s meeting to explain to the community why it is they've made no progress on the rapid review”.

“We want an urgent meeting with Hackney Council to discuss Child X’s case, and a meeting with the local Hackney police chief commander to understand why it is his officers feel completely empowered to harass this family,” Mr Jasper explained.

Hackney Council has confirmed to The Independent that the rapid safeguarding review never actually began.

Councillor Anntoinette Bramble, Deputy Mayor of Hackney, said: “The threshold for undertaking a Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review has not been met and any further examination of the incident by the City and Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership relies upon information currently held by the IOPC and the police. This cannot be disclosed to the CHSCP whilst the IOPC investigation is ongoing.”

Cllr Bramble added that she’s Child X’s mother, most recently last month, to speak with her about the incident, the impact on her family, and to offer support.

This comes as new data recently revealed that Black children remain four times as likely to be strip-searched across England and Wales, compared to national population figures.

The practice of child strip searches prompted a national outrage after the Child Q scandal in 2022, when it was revealed that police strip-searched a 15-year-old Black girl at school in east London, while she was on her period and without an adult present, due to suspected possession of cannabis.

No drugs were found on her person.

The APA is calling for every interaction with children under the age of 18, whether Black or white, to be independently monitored and subject to community scrutiny and interventions.

“The biggest safeguarding threat to Black children in London is the Metropolitan Police Service and the reality is this: if you accept that the police are systemically racist, then you have to have a safeguarding policy for the protection of Black children underneath the age of 18 who could be subject to that systemic racism,” Mr Jasper said.

“There is virtually no monitoring of interactions with Black children and the police unless it’s part of a safeguarding referral.

“Hence, our demand for the ‘London Black Child Safeguarding Board’. This would see the introduction of a forensic monitoring process for London - which currently there isn’t - where any child who is arrested using force or subject to a strip search then receives an automatic safeguarding referral.”

The Alliance of Police Accountability (APA) is a newly established UK network consisting of influential Black individuals and national Black organisations.

The group’s primary focus is on transforming policing and promoting a new public health approach to address serious violence, empowering Black communities across England and Wales.

The Met Police have denied that officers’ search of Child X’s home is connected to the armed incident last year.

Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway, in charge of policing for Hackney and Tower Hamlets, said: “We understand why the community remain concerned about the incident in July 2023. It was understandably extremely distressing for the boy involved as well as his family and we have apologised to them for the trauma we caused.

“I know there is further concern about a search warrant carried out on Wednesday, 29 May. I want to make really clear this has no connection to the incident last summer. The search was conducted by officers investigating a life-threatening arson in October 2023.

“The fire caused extensive damage to a flat which had residents inside and resulted in that family having to be re-homed. It was incredibly fortunate no-one was seriously harmed.

“A child has been since interviewed under caution at a police station, accompanied by a family member, and enquiries continue.

“This is an entirely separate matter and the public, but most importantly the victims of this attack, rightly expect us to investigate a really serious crime and make every necessary enquiry.

“We are working hard to rebuild the confidence Londoners, particularly Black Londoners, have in our service.”