CHILDREN as young as three are being stopped and searched by police looking for drugs, weapons and stolen goods.

Figures show that thousands of children across the region are being stopped under police powers, with about a quarter being searched.

Police said that when the powers were used against very young children, it was because they suspected shoplifters had hidden items on them.

Figures show that between January 2007 and May this year, Durham Police stopped and searched 5,675 children under 18. Of those, 36 were under ten, with the youngest aged only three.

During the same period, they used less severe “stop and account” powers to talk to 28,973 children, including 312 under ten.

North Yorkshire Police said they had stopped and searched 7,733 children from January 2007 to June 23 this year. The figures included 24 under ten, one as young as five.

Stop and account powers were used against 35,246 children, including 48 under ten.

Figures were not available for Cleveland Police.

Officers said they were able to use stop and search powers when they believed a crime had been committed or people were carrying a weapon to commit criminal damage.

Chief Inspector Bill Dutton, from Durham Police, confirmed a small proportion of searches were used against children under ten, when officers believed they had reason to search them.

He said: “The most likely reason is for example is when someone is stopped and suspected of shoplifting and have a three-year-old child with them. Officers suspect they have put the items upon the child or put it in a buggy.

“Store detectives are less likely to search a child. But if police officers have enough information, they will search them or look in a pushchair.”

He said fewer than ten per cent of searches led to arrests, but the powers sped up the process for officers and those searched.

Councillor Bill Dixon, who sits on Durham Police Authority, said: “Regrettably, people will try to hide things like drugs in pushchairs and on children.

“It is the lengths which people are prepared to go to, rather than police who are forced to search children.”

A spokesman for the Police Federation, which represents frontline officers, said: “Many parents these days do not know where their children are at night.

“In some areas there will be children running around at 11 o’clock or midnight.

“These figures show that at least officers are doing what they should be doing and intervening.”

Graham Beech, from Catch 22, a charity that helps troubled youngsters, said: “We must keep the figures in perspective and remember that stop and search is used for a variety of reasons.

“In many cases the youngest people are being searched because their older acquaintances may have hidden weapons or other objects on their person to avoid detection.

“Implicating them in criminal activities in this way is totally unacceptable.”