THE number of people being stopped and searched by North Yorkshire Police has fallen by more than 60 per cent in the last five years.

Figures released under a Freedom Of Information act request show the number of people stopped by police each year has fallen by almost 5,000 since 2012.

Stop and search allows officers to search people they suspect of carrying illegal items without necessarily arresting them.

Last year the figures were their lowest in the last five years, with 2,983 people searched by police - down 40 per cent from 2015, when 5,009 people were searched.

In 2012, 7,675 people were searched, in 2013, 7,767 people were searched, and in 2014 police stopped and searched 6,424 people.

In the same period, the number of North Yorkshire Police officers fell by just over three per cent, from 1,423 to 1,376, but the local federation said this was likely to have been only a small factor in the dramatic reduction.

Chief Inspector Rob Bowles, chairman elect of the North Yorkshire Police Federation, said: “There’s an emphasis on finding an alternative means of dealing with people on the street, through focused conversations, for example, and through powers of arrest. Arrest would be the last resort, but a focused conversation is probably a more appropriate way of dealing with suspicion.

“Looking at the national picture, there has been a significant reduction of police officer numbers and a significant reduction in stop and search numbers nationally, and the two could be related, but in terms of the local picture, the fact there’s only been a three per cent reduction in local officers, I don’t think would have had a significant impact . There has to be another factor in play, but the research needs to be done to find out what that is.”

Superintendent Mark Grange, of North Yorkshire Police, said the reduction in the number of stop and search incidents followed a national trend in recent years.

Supt Grange said: “Stop and search has been dropping for several years? and the power is still seen as a vital power to carry out searches based on reasonable suspicion.

“However in a number of cases the purpose of a possible search can be achieved by other means - either arrest or by a targeted conversation which alleviates the need to use stop and search.”