An 11-year-old was among the thousands of people stopped and searched by police in Tayside and Fife last year, new figures show.
The boy, who was the youngest subject of the counter-crime measure in the area, was searched in Glenrothes for drugs in November last year, though none were found.
In Dundee, use of the power in April to December 2018 increased by 28% on the same period the previous year amid a national decrease, according to Police Scotland data published on Tuesday.
That increase was driven in part by Operation Fundamental, which targeted drug use in the city.
Fife, Angus and Perth and Kinross also saw rises as officers deployed stop and search on 3,836 individuals in Courier Country in the 2018 period.
Claire Baker, a Labour MSP in Fife, said: “Stop and search must be used proportionately and I welcome Police Scotland’s publication of the figures.
“It is alarming that an 11-year-old boy has been searched for drugs in Fife and that a child is being exploited by drug dealers in our communities in this way.”
Police Scotland has powers to search people for weapons, stolen property and banned items under a raft of legislation.
Officers can only carry out the practice in line with those laws and can no longer perform consensual searches, where permission from the individual is sufficient.
A 91-year-old in was the eldest in Tayside and Fife to be stopped and searched. That was done for “care and welfare” reasons in Leven, Kennoway and Largo.
Liam McArthur, for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said his party had secured the recording of every stop and search in Scotland.
“Police searches must be justified, proportionate and follow a clear procedure,” he said.
“As a result we can see, better than ever before, whether statutory powers are being used appropriately.”
Chief Inspector Lyn Ross, from Police Scotland, said intelligence-led stop and search is a “valuable and effective policing tactic” when appropriately used.
“We recognise that stopping and searching members of the public is a significant intrusion and are committed to ensuring all our activity is carried out in a lawful, proportionate, justified and accountable manner,” he said.
