Youth leaders have criticised the use of stop and search powers against young people, saying they achieve very little.
It comes as the PSNI published its annual statistics surrounding the use of the policing power.
Police stopped 2,477 people under the age of 17 between April 2021 and March 2022, making 71 arrests.
Read more: PSNI appeal after assault leaves man in hospital with head injury
The Children's Commissioner Koulla Yiasouma said she believed the roughly three percent arrest rate from the use of the power against young people meant it wasn't proving effective.
"The question I have is what is the purpose of stop and search?," she said.
"What are the PSNI trying to achieve when they stop a young person?
"If you look at the low outcome rates, they're clearly not detecting crime."
Other ways that young people can be dealt with include community resolutions or youth diversion initiatives, although the statistics only record the arrest rate for specific age groups.
Overall, with 22,823 stop and searches conducted for all age groups, six percent resulted in arrest, with 15% resulting in other outcomes.
It means 79% of stops resulted in no further outcome.
The PSNI had the joint-fifth highest rate for usage of the measure in the UK, but were joint 26th for percentage resulting in arrests.
Ms Yiasouma said the impact of being stopped by police on a young person can be far reaching.
"What young people tell us about is really interesting - they feel very, very aggrieved about the way they're treated by police," she added.
"They feel discriminated against police because they're young and because of the community they come from and what I mean by that, is it is predominantly the working class community.
"That goes on then to dent the confidence that young people have in the police service and then there's implications around that should they ever be victims or witnesses of crime."
She said she had no objection to police having access to the power, but that lessons should be learned about how it was being used.
"I want them to use it effectively and I see nothing that tells me that stop and search is an effective power in keeping our communities safer," she said.
"We need our young people to have absolute confidence in the police as they are the main service that is there to protect them from crime."
The Northern Ireland Youth Forum has been vocal in its opposition to the power being used against young people, with director Chris Quinn saying it should not be used against them at all.
"The number of 18 to 25-year-olds stopped and search appears disproportionate with other sections of society," he told Belfast Live.
"We are also alarmed at the number of those aged 17 and under that were stopped and searched.
"We are calling on the Minister for Justice to ensure ongoing training for police on their engagement with young people and we also believe that stop and search of children should be banned.
"The fact that the vast majority of stop and searches result in no further action seriously questions the rationale as to why they are carried out in the first place."
The main age groups being searched by police in the last year were those aged from 18-35.
PSNI Chief Superintendent Sam Donaldson said stop and search powers were used when deemed appropriate by individual officers and that it sought only to use them where necessary.
“There is no doubt that stop and search is an extremely important power when used fairly and effectively.
"We recognise that the use of these powers is a sensitive issue for our communities, especially when young people are involved.
“The Police Service of Northern Ireland have a number of governance groups to ensure police powers, including stop and search, are being used fairly and effectively.
"As part of this, we regularly engage with relevant key stakeholders and partner agencies including the Children's Commissioner and the NI Youth Forum, as well as inviting independent advisory groups to attend meetings.
"Regular updates are also provided in relation to stop and search to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, who hold us to account in terms of the use of these and other powers."
Read more: Acid 'thrown over man' in Newry assault
Read more: Two people taken to hospital following collision in Whitehead
To get the latest breaking news straight to your inbox, sign up to our free newsletter.
