COMPLAINTS against police in Greater Manchester in 2013/2014 rose by more than one quarter over the previous year.

In figures released this week by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), the number rose from 1,204 in 2012/2013 to !,536 last year.

The number of complaints continues to show an upward trend after an 18 per cent increase was recorded in 2012/2013, over the previous year’s total.

Among the IPCC findings, allegations against the force rose by 21 per cent to 3,155 in 2013/2014, and of those allegations, just one in every 25 was upheld. While 39 per cent of appeals from the public against GMP were upheld by the IPCC, the compared to just 3 per cent by GMP.

GMP also proved one of the worst forces when it came to recording complaints within 10 working days with the force recording 65 per cent in that time frame.

In 2013/2014 GMP took an average of 91 working days to finalise 952 complaints, which compared to an average across England and Wales of 101 days.

Chief Superintendent Dave Hull, head of GMP’s professional standards branch, said: “We expect the very highest standards from our officers and staff but on the small number of occasions when these standards fall short it is important that the public can make a complaint to GMP or the IPCC, confident that their concerns will be listened to and investigated.

“We have made significant changes to the way we deal with complaints over recent years and are currently working with the IPCC as he looks to overhaul the complaints procedure and introduce an independent ombudsman service, a move we openly welcome.

“We know there is a lot of work to be done but we are absolutely determined to make our system more accessible, timely and effective both for the public making complaints and the officers’ subject of them.”