LONDON, Aug 19, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Police across England and Wales are conducting fewer strip-searches of children but "concerning practices" remain, including a "widespread failure" to comply with safeguarding procedures, a new watchdog report said Monday.

Officers carried out 457 such searches in the year to June 2023 -- equivalent to one child every 19 hours -- children's commissioner Rachel de Souza found in her latest assessment of the contentious practice.

She noted numbers in all of 2022 were 42 percent down on 2020, hailing "clear and positive change" in its use.

But de Souza warned that the strip-searches, which have been repeatedly criticised for disproportionately targeting black boys and lacking oversight, were still being overused and under-regulated.

Her report -- the third within two years -- found black children were still four times more likely to be strip-searched than the overall child population.

Meanwhile half of the 2022-23 cases resulted in no further action being taken, "calling into question the necessity of such an intrusive search in the first place," she noted.

The commissioner has been focusing on the policy following the high-profile case of "Child Q".

The 15-year-old black schoolgirl was strip-searched by female officers in 2020 after being wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis, despite them being aware she was menstruating.

London's Metropolitan Police apologised for their conduct two years later, and three officers face gross misconduct disciplinary charges following a police watchdog investigation.

In her latest assessment, de Souza said her "firm recommendation" was for strip-searches on children only to be used when "there is a clear and immediate danger to the child or others".

"The majority of searches are still conducted on suspicion of drugs and... could be preventable," she noted.

The commissioner added there was "an urgent need to strengthen guidance around strip-searches, ensure oversight and inspection, and reform a culture that has allowed non-compliance to go unchallenged".

A strip-search is defined in England and Wales as one that exposes intimate parts.

Police can carry them out on children prior to arrest as well as following detention, if guidelines are followed.

They include officers acting in a sensitive, proportionate way and an appropriate adult being present.

The new Labour government has vowed to implement new safeguards proposed by the previous Conservative government to improve enforcement of the guidance.

An interior ministry spokeswoman said that "no child should ever be strip searched without an appropriate adult unless there is a risk of serious harm to themselves or others".

"Whilst there have been improvements, it is clear standards are not always being followed as they should," she added, noting it will "carefully consider" the commissioner's recommendations.