AN INQUIRY has been launched into why black people are three times more likely to be stopped by Lancashire police than residents from other backgrounds.

And the statistics for the six months to September 2005 show Asian people are the least likely to be stopped and asked to account for their actions.

Now senior force bosses are to launch an internal inquiry in a bid to discover why black people were apparently being singled out by officers.

The figures show 72.04 of every 1,000 black people are stopped, compared to 21.74 for whites and 19.04 for Asians.

In Lancashire there are 1,321,420 whites, 75,407 Asians and 3,179 blacks. There were also 264 people of mixed race stopped from a population in Lancashire of 9,490, giving a 27.82 likelihood per 1,000 people.

Recording 'stop and accounts' aims to ensure the controversial powers are 'transparent and accountable'.

Until April this year, police just had to take details of "stops" when they had also carried out a search.

But for the past seven months officers have also been recording the occasions when a person is stopped and asked to account for their actions.

The action was recommended in the report into the murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence which branded the Metropolitan Police "institutionally racist".

Stephen, an 18-year-old Londoner, was stabbed to death in a racially-motivated attack in 1993.

The Lancashire figures show that from the beginning of April to the end of September there was 30,893 "stop and accounts" carried out.

Of those, 28,723 were on whites, 1,966 on Asians and 229 on blacks.

Supt Irene Curtis said: "Further analysis will be required to identify the issues underlying the apparent disproportionality in these areas."

Of the stops, 45 per cent were because the officer was investigating a suspected crime. The other main reasons were to check documents, to see if the person was wanted on warrant and for a suspected traffic crime.

Some 49 per cent of people stopped had no further action taken against them, while 28 per cent were verbally warned, 15 per cent advised and two per cent arrested.

Another six per cent of the outcomes were classed as 'other' and no further details given.

Stop-and-search figures for Lancashire released earlier this year showed blacks were four times and Asians 1.4 times more likely to be searched than whites.