An inquiry into the experiences of women and girls in police custody in Greater Manchester has called for an end to the inappropriate use of strip-searches amid allegations they have been used to punish and “degrade” women.
The Baird report, which was commissioned by Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, and released on Thursday morning, examined 14 cases of 11 women and three men who had been treated unfairly by Greater Manchester police (GMP). It found wrongful arrests, a lack of care for domestic and sexual abuse survivors, and strip-searches being conducted forcefully on vulnerable women.
The report by Dame Vera Baird KC, a barrister and politician who worked as the victims commissioner between 2019 and 2022, called for “more humane and dignified treatment of all detainees” and an end to strip-searches as punishment.
The report outlined how women had been strip-searched without police telling them what they were looking for. One woman, named Dannika in the report, said: “It was all about ‘power’. It was police on a power trip … to shut me up, make me scared, to show we’re boss, not you.”
Another, Maria, said: “The only reason they did what they did was to degrade me … If I was a man, I don’t think they would’ve done it. I was treated like a piece of meat”.
It is against the European convention on human rights for strip-searches to be used punitively.
In the report, Baird wrote: “The punitive use of strip-searching is, in the view of the majority of the arrestees involved in this inquiry, what happened to them. If this is, consciously or unconsciously, in whole or in part, how strip-searching is ever used by GMP, it is unlawful and must stop now.”
She also called for an end to strip-searching for “welfare” reasons, instead moving to a system of observations for those who have indicated they may harm themselves. Baird added: “Officers should be told not to manhandle detainees who do not wish to continue being interviewed.”
The inquiry also looked more widely at treatment upon arrest and in detention.
One man described being led through a custody suite naked and locked in a cell with no clothes for eight hours. He was told he could have a blanket when he “behaved”.
Two women told the inquiry they had bled through their clothes after sanitary protection was not provided, while a disabled woman soiled herself through not being able to use the cell toilet and her calls going ignored. Another woman used her clothes to wipe herself when she was not given toilet roll.
One rape survivor told how she was pinned down by officers after becoming agitated when one of them grabbed her in an effort to calm her down, and when she screamed that she was a survivor of sexual abuse, they tried to “control her with their strength, which made everything worse”.
Another woman was arrested when she tried to protect a young family member from an alleged abuser, initially leaving the girl with the man who had a court order in place banning him from contact with the child. And a victim of domestic abuse was herself arrested for bruising the arms of her partner while he strangled her.
The report noted how bodycam footage of some of the incidents was not found, while others had gaps where police wrongdoing was alleged to have happened.
All except one of the arrests led to no further action being taken by police.
GMP said it accepted the findings of the report and apologised to those who came forward.
The force, which was in special measures between 2020 and 2022 after inspectors found it failed to record a fifth of all reported crimes, said it had already taken many of the measures recommended by the report, including providing sanitary products and scrutinising its use of strip-searches more closely.
It said: “We have fully engaged with Dame Vera’s report and continue to provide all requested and available materials in relation to ongoing investigations relating to the inquiry.”
