Met to adopt a 'child-first approach' to policing

In 2023, there were approximately 61,000 child victims of crime in London

The Metropolitan Police has announced a new "child-first" approach to policing in London.

Officers will receive training in childhood vulnerability and "adultification bias", where young people from certain backgrounds are viewed as more grown up.

Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the force had sometimes focused "too hard" on criminality and not the "vulnerability that lies behind it" but stressed the strategy did not mean a "free pass" for criminality by young people.

In 2023, there were approximately 61,000 child victims of crime in London and 51,000 children who were suspected of committing a crime.

The new five-year strategy by the Met also includes ways to to improve relations between officers and children in London, increase the size of child exploitation teams and integrate trained schools officers into neighbourhood ward teams.

A new public protection referrals desk will also be established to identify young people who are experiencing domestic abuse.

Sir Mark Rowley hailed the "major milestone" in the Met's aim to keep children in the capital safe, saying the strategy will give officers the support they need to recognise and help vulnerable young people.

The force has been criticised over how its officers strip searched a 15-year-old school girl

The new strategy comes following a series a high-profile incidents.

In 2020, a 15-year-old black girl, known as Child Q, was strip searched by police officers with no appropriate adult present at a school in Hackney, east London having been wrongly accused of possessing cannabis.

Scotland Yard later apologised and three officers are facing allegations of gross misconduct over the search, with a hearing date yet to be confirmed.

Earlier this month, PC Connor Jones was proven to have committed gross misconduct after holding a Taser against a 16-year-old black boy's neck in Greenwich, south-east London, on 4 September 2020.

'Protecting young people'

The Met's new strategy was welcomed by London's deputy mayor for policing and crime, Sophie Linden, who said "greater emphasis" would be placed on "recognising the vulnerabilities of young people".

Children's commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza also welcomed the strategy.

Dame Rachel added that she looked forward to "seeing concrete results that show children are safer on our streets and that their trust in the police is rebuilt after widespread failures for example, when it comes to strip searching".

"It's clear that more work is required to create a culture across all police forces which focuses on protecting young people and making sure they are treated like children," she added.

Dr Pippa Goodfellow, of The Children's Society, said the Met's promises "must lead to real change", and added that too many young people, especially from ethnic minorities, had suffered "heavy-handed policing and distressing use of force".