HAMPSHIRE Constabulary is one of the top ten most complained about forces in the country, latest figures have revealed.

The number of complaints about police in the county rose by ten per cent last year, with 968 grievances made against the force about how their case was dealt with.

The statistics released by the Independent Police Complaints Commission show that this rise follows an increase of eight per cent in the force's recorded complaints during the previous year, with only eight other forces in the country getting more complaints.

Police chiefs within the force have blamed the stark increase on changes to the definition of a complaint and were quick to highlight that the ten per cent rise is below the national figure of 15 per cent.

Each complaint case recorded against the force can have one or more allegations attached to it and in total the force faced 1,819 allegations between 2013 and 2014.

A complainant may also appeal about the way in which the force has handed their complaint and 42 per cent of these appeals from the public were upheld by the IPCC.

The IPCC upheld 47 per cent of 32 appeals where people were unhappy that Hampshire police had not recorded their complaint and 41 per cent of 70 appeals from people unhappy with Hampshire Constabulary's investigation into their complaint.

In 2013/14, Hampshire Constabulary finalised 818 complaint cases in an average of 96 working days - five days quicker that the national average of 101 days.

Across England and Wales the most common complaints involve allegations that an officer has been neglectful or failed in their duty, or that an officer's behaviour has been uncivil, impolite or intolerant.

Chief Superintendent Mark Chatterton, head of Hampshire Constabulary's Professional Standards Department, said: “Officers from our Professional Standards Department have worked hard to improve the time that complaints take to resolve and I am pleased to note that there has been an improvement in resolution time, to make it five days below the national average.

“This is an area that will continue to be a focus as it is something that the public, officers and staff rightly state needs further work.

“There has been an increase of ten per cent in the total number of complaints made over the last year but again it significantly less that the national average of 15 per cent.

“This is largely attributable to changes in recording rules whereby “direction and control” matters were included for the first time.”