Opinion: Why are strip-searches not a matter of public debate in the UK?

Police officer atop a horse - Photo by  John Cameron  on  Unsplash Writing in The Conversation, Dr Matteo Tiratelli (IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society) asks why, after several charges of misconduct against the police following strip searches, why isn't the practice itself receiving more public scrutiny? The recent story of Child Q, the 15-year-old black schoolgirl who was accused by her teachers of smelling of cannabis and subjected to a strip-search at her school in Hackney, London, without an appropriate adult present, has rightly elicited outrage. The Metropolitan Police and the child's school have apologised. Her headteacher has stepped down. Four police officers face gross misconduct charges and eight similar cases have since been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. While Child Q's particular case made headlines, the question of strip-searches has been noticeably absent from political and legal discussions in the UK. This is perhaps surprising. Take, for example how much scrutiny is directed at the controversial use of stop and search by police.