The research, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, showed the Metropolitan Police detained the highest number of children aged 17 and under for both years, with 14,370 in 2010 and 13,860 in 2011.

This is an interesting article looking at the number of children held in overnight custody in the London Metroloitan Police Area.

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It contains stats, as shown below which indicate that children as young as 10 years old are being held in Police cells overnight.

17 – 14,068
16 – 11,342
15 – 7,154
14 – 4,293
13 – 1,609
12 – 526
11 – 124
10 – 33

Certainly interesting to watch the development of family breakdown in the bigger cities of the world.