The DNA of 25 young people is being taken by Sussex Police every week.

New research has found that police officers in the county took swabs from 1,290 people aged 17 or under during 2011.

A year earlier samples from another 2,136 children and youths were collected as part of investigations, including from some as young as 10. Swabs were taken from 19 primary school-age children including three ten-year olds and 16 11-year-olds.

Across England and Wales, police took swabs from almost 54,000 people aged 17 or under during 2011.

But many of those required to give a sample were not charged with a criminal offence.

In 2010 only seven forces took more samples from Sussex Police and in 2011 only 13 did.

These included much larger forces such at the Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police.

Frances Crook, the chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, criticised the scale of DNA collection.

She said: “When public money is tight and police forces are shrinking, it is disappointing to see valuable crime-fighting resources being wasted on taking DNA samples from thousands of innocent children while serious offences go undetected.

“Children who get into trouble with the police are usually just up to mischief. Treating so many like hardened criminals by taking their DNA seems excessive.

“We welcome the government’s decision to stop storing innocent people’s DNA indefinitely, but it remains unclear how this will affect the number of children having their DNA taken needlessly.”

A Sussex Police spokeswoman said: “We obtain DNA samples from subjects – including juveniles – as allowed by legislation.

“The number of DNA samples taken is commensurate with the size of and proportion of crime dealt with by the force when compared against national totals.

“We are aware that children’s behaviour can range from childish through to criminal, and ensure that we are proportionate in our dealings with them. We carry out significant prevention work with partner agencies.

“This is aimed at preventing offending by young people and continuing to reduce first time entrants to the criminal justice system.”