THE PSNI has one of the highest rates of officers using stop and search powers in the UK but the lowest arrest rate.
A joint investigation by The Detail website and VICE World News found that just more than 25,000 people were stopped and searched in the north last year - behind only London and Merseyside.
However, just six per cent of searches led to an arrest.
Of 25,021 stops where ethnicity was recorded, people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (Bame) backgrounds accounted for 1,026 stops, or 4.1 per cent - despite making up only 1.8 percent of the population.
Children aged 13 to 17 also made up almost 12 per cent – or 2,940 – of stops, despite being only 6.4 per cent of the population.
Dr John Topping, a senior lecturer in criminology at Queen’s University Belfast and an expert in stop and search, told The Detail the use of such powers were felt "unevenly by particular groups".
"If you are from a social-economic deprived background you are 2.5 times more likely to be stopped and searched than someone from a more affluent background," he said.
“Stop and search has at best a marginal effect on crime on society, and has overall a negative effect on police-community relations.”
Police have defended stop and search powers in helping to prevent, detect and investigate crime and said they are only used when necessary.
The force said it has "already identified potential issues in terms of ethnicity and has carried out a quality assurance exercise to ensure that these particular incidents had the required reasonable grounds".
