MENTAL health and abusive relationships are among the key policing priorities among young people in North Yorkshire, a study found.

More than 3,300 youngsters contributed to a major new report by the North Yorkshire Youth Commission on young people’s views of policing and crime in the county.

The Youth Commission was set up by the county's Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Julia Mulligan in 2015 to support, challenge and inform the work of the police and the PCC.

It achieves this by identifying youngsters’ policing priorities and creating a set of recommendations.

The final report found that supporting mental health issues was the most important priority, followed by tackling abusive relationships and hate crime.

This led to recommendations such as increasing police training in mental health issues, promoting online support and publicising the use of the 101 number for mental health crises.

The Youth Commission will now work on making sure the recommendations are implemented.

Project manager Kaytea Budd-Brophy said: “This report is intended to act as an honest, independent record of what young people have told the commission through this Big Conversation process.

“It is a comprehensive and impressive piece of work that sets out the priorities of young people from across the county and we now look forward to working in partnership with North Yorkshire Police, the Crime Commissioner and partner agencies over the next two years to consider and implement the recommendations that have been made.”

Ms Mulligan welcomed the report.

She said: “I instigated the Youth Commission because it was clear the views of children and young people were not being heard as they should be when decisions were made about policing and crime.

“That had to change and by ensuring young people across North Yorkshire had a voice, we are making progress to achieve that.”