CHILDREN as young as 10-years-old have been stopped and searched by police officers in the last three years.

More than 1,300 youngsters in York were spoken to in connection with a number of crimes throughout the county between 2012, 2013 and 2014, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

In the last three years 3,937 under-18s have been quizzed by North Yorkshire Police and 143 were arrested.

They were searched in connection to a number of offences across North Yorkshire, from possession of drugs to affray, theft and burglary In York, 1,336 were stopped and questioned by officers, including two children aged just 10-years-old - one in 2012 and another a year later.

Children in Scarborough, Selby and Harrogate all had incidents of 12-year-olds spoken to by police, however, the amount of children stopped in York dropped from 701 incidents in 2012 to 340 last year and 295 in 2014.

According to figures released by the force, 46 youngsters were arrested because they were believed to be in possession of drugs, 41 were spoken to about alleged theft cases and 17 were thought to have been going equipped to a crime.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said: "Stop and search powers are a very effective tool which help us to detect crime, recover stolen property and arrest offenders.

"However, the use of stop and search must be based on the best intelligence available to us at the time and done in a manner which is as ethical as possible.

"We have currently implemented some aspects of the Government’s Best Use of Stop and Search scheme and plan to have the rest of it in place by the end of January 2015."

Julia Mulligan, North Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, added: "Stop and search needs to be treated carefully, but I am confident police locally are using these powers fairly, when there is good reason to do so.

"Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has made a number of recommendations in recent months regarding stop and search, which the police force are considering carefully and I am monitoring.

"However, there is absolutely no question on the part of HMIC that young people in York are being treated unfairly."