THE gloves were off, but the only thing the police panel had to dodge was a tough question or two.

Faced with 60 pupils eager to quiz North-East police chiefs at a youth forum yesterday, Northumbria Police's finest kept their cool and may have even made a few friends.

During a lively hour-long open forum, youngsters aged 11 to 16 grilled the officers on drugs, crime and that age-old chestnut - having something to do.

Many pupils got so engrossed in the meeting that they forgot to go for lunch - a sure sign the police had their full attention.

Superintendent Jim Campbell, one of the police panel at Farringdon Comprehensive School, in Allendale Road, Sunderland, yesterday, described the meeting as "very amicable".

He said: "There was a tremendous amount of interest from the kids. In fact, some of them were coming up to the panel after the forum even though it was eating into their dinner hour.

"They brought up drugs quite a lot. They wanted to know their responsibilities and the liabilities.

"As expected, youth disorder also came up. When we move them on at night, they wanted to know where they could go and what they could do.

"I think there was a fairly good rapport between us and it was particularly useful for the bobbies we had on the panel. They deal with youngsters on the streets, so now they've built up a relationship."

The forum was chaired by police authority member Angela Brunton and also featured questions for Chief Inspector Michael Hartnack and Detective Chief Inspector Steve Wade