A POLICE force has blamed new procedures for a 94 per cent leap in complaints against its officers.

County Durham police said changes introduced by a new body, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), were in part responsible for the increase.

In the six months between April and September this year 169 complaints were recorded, compared to 87 in the same period in 2003.

Police chiefs said they now had to record all minor complaints even if they were successfully dealt with at a local level.

Superintendent Peter Davis, head of County Durham police's professional standards department, said: "Serious allegations against our officers are extremely rare and remain among the lowest in the country.

"We fully expected to be logging more complaints because of the new guidance and we are not surprised by these figures.

"In the past, many minor grievances resolved locally were never formally recorded, so this has led to what appears at first to be an alarming rise.

"The truth of the matter is that we now have a more accurate picture of what is happening and how the issues raised are being handled."

The bulk of the recorded complaints in the six month period alleged minor neglect of duty and incivility by officers, although a handful concerned matters more serious, such as assault.

Because of the length of time it took to complete inquiries into complaints, 138 had been investigated during the six-month period.

A total of 119 were successfully resolved using internal procedures within four weeks.

Two were formally substantiated, three unsubstantiated and four withdrawn by the complainant.

With the agreement of the IPCC, the remaining ten were dispensed with because in most instances the complainant failed to follow them up and reply to correspondence on the matter.

Councillor Len O'Donnell, chairman of the Durham Police Authority's complaints committee, said: "We are delighted that the force has quickly adopted the new procedures which have brought stricter standards for dealing with complaints against the police."

The IPCC has greater powers than its predecessor the Police Complaints Authority and has its own team of independent investigators, which can look at complaints.

Previously complaints which were not dealt with internally were handled by the Home Office or by other forces.

But this led to criticism that the police were investigating their own.