MORE complaints are being made against the police because there are simpler ways to raise issues, according to the North Yorkshire force.

People can now sit down with an officer to discuss a problem, rather than go through a complicated reporting process.

North Yorkshire Police spoke out after the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) released figures showing a 74 per cent rise in complaints against the force between 2003/04 to 2004/05.

But The Press has already revealed more recent figures, which showed complaints rose by a further 21 per cent between April 1, 2005, and March 31, 2006.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said: "We don't feel that there are more complaints out there but we have a much better system for reporting them.

"People feel more able to raise issues with the police than they did a few years ago when there was a more formal, unfriendly system.

"Now we take a pragmatic approach, talk to people about their issue, learn from it, and tell them what action has been taken so that they are satisfied."

The IPCC figures showed there were 327 complaints in 2004/05, compared with 188 in 2003/04.

Figures revealed by The Press, issued at a North Yorkshire Police Authority meeting in April, showed there were 392 complaints in 2005/06.

The number of allegations within complaints (such as assault and excessive force) that year went up from 631 to 730.

And the York and Selby central area of the force received 35 per cent of the complaints, with 137.

But in the past 12 months, only 17 of all the allegations against North Yorkshire officers have been proved.

The police spokesman added: "I'm not sure why the IPCC is releasing last year's figures now, because we already have more up-to-date ones, but maybe it is the time taken collating them from all over the country."

The IPCC figures show complaints rose by 44 per cent across the country between 2003/04 and 2004/05.

Humberside's figure was up by 24 per cent, from 238 to 295.

The commission said there was an increase in allegations dealt with without a formal inquiry, and a cut in independent investigations.

Most complaints in North Yorkshire in 2005-06 were about issues of duty, which include failing to properly investigate a crime or update a complainant (27 per cent).

But allegations of assault and excessive force fell from 22 per cent to 12 per cent.