NORTH Wales Police has seen an increase in both complaints and allegations over the last year, according to figures.

The national police complaints statistics for England and Wales 2017/18 show that some forces choose to formally investigate most allegations made against them, while others use the less formal ‘local resolution’ process.

This points to an overly complex complaints system and changes coming into effect next year to simplify complaints handling are welcomed by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

According to the statistics, North Wales Police recorded a total of 484 complaints, an increase of 7 per cent on last year.

The force also recorded an increase in the number of allegations by 13 per cent. When considered per 1,000 employees, this increased from 290 in 2016/17 to 344 this year.

North Wales Police finalised 41 per cent of allegations by local resolution.

On average, it took the force 163 working days to locally investigate an allegation, compared to 173 nationally.

For allegations finalised by local resolution, it took an average of 65 working days to resolve the allegation, compared to 72 days nationally.

Catrin Evans, IOPC director for Wales, said: “More important than the overall numbers, is the opportunity for forces to learn from the complaints they receive.

"Police forces in Wales know how important it is to listen and act so that improvements are made to the way they handle complaints.

"The concerns expressed by local communities help forces to improve and this can be positive for relations between police forces and the people they serve.

“The way forces handle complaints varies greatly and we hope that changes coming into effect next year will provide greater consistency in approach. We will continue to work with police forces to help develop their complaints handling.”

A number of changes to the complaints system will be introduced in 2019. As part of the IOPC's work to support the changes, the organisation plans to improve how allegations are defined so the categories provide more clarity about what specifically is being complained about.

An IOPC spokesman added: "We are also ensuring that in future, less serious complaints dealt with outside the formal system will be captured and logged so we can see clearly what is driving people to complain at all levels.

"This new data will assist the police service and our own thematic work to make improvements to policing as a whole."