THE number of complaints about police in Hampshire rose by ten per cent last year, according to figures released today.

Hampshire Constabulary had 968 complaints in 2013/14, up from 882 the previous year.

The 2013/14 total for Hampshire was the ninth highest total for forces in England and Wales. The Metropolitan Police had the highest total in 2013/14, with 7,115 complaints, while Northumbria Police had the highest increase, with 98 per cent.

Of the 43 forces covered 38 had an increase in complaints compared with 2012/13, according to an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report released today.

The figures represent a 52% increase in complaints since 2004/05.

Dame Anne Owers, IPCC chairwoman, said a current review of the system was welcome, adding: '”The rising number of complaints makes it all the more important that the system is, and is seen to be, fair, accessible and transparent.

'”Better public confidence in policing crucially depends on confidence that, where things may have gone wrong, appropriate action will be taken as soon as possible.

“It is clear from these statistics that forces still struggle to get it right first time, and there are now serious questions about whether they get it right the second time either.

“We will continue to work with them to improve complaints handling. But that is not enough. We urgently need radical reforms to the system as a whole, to make it more accessible and straightforward, and to strengthen independent oversight.”

Dame Anne questioned the way forces handled appeals against complaints dealt with internally, saying the figures add to the IPCC's concerns about forces having the power to do this in less serious cases.

The number of upheld “non-recording appeals” - appeals against a force's decision not to record a complaint as having been made - fell to 49% in 2013/14 from 57% in 2012/13, with appeals upheld in 44% of cases where complaints had been recorded.

Dame Anne said: “There are also considerable differences between forces, in the number of initial complaints they uphold, and the number of their decisions we overturn. As we have said many times, this reflects a complaints system which is complex, bureaucratic and over-focused on blame.”

She added: “It is clear that forces uphold a much lower proportion of appeals than the IPCC. For example, during this period, forces only upheld 22% of appeals against their own investigations - only half the proportion that the IPCC upholds.

“These are different and less serious cases, but these figures will not inspire public confidence that those appeals were dealt with robustly and fairly.”