A RECORD number of police complaints are leading to disciplinary action against officers, an official report revealed yesterday.

The report by the Police Complaints Authority (PCA), which is being replaced by an independent group in April, said it had examined 3,547 cases involving complaints against police in 2002/3.

In 936 cases, 26 per cent of the total, disciplinary or procedural action was taken against individual officers after complaints were proven.

In this region, only North Yorkshire Police saw a 63 per cent year-on-year rise in the number of cases investigated by the PCA, from 2001/2 to 2002/3.

This equates to 207 complaints for every 1,000 officers, the second highest figure in the country, of which more than 25 per cent were substantiated.

Police chiefs in the county said the figures were misleading and said the overall number of complaints lodged with the force was falling, although more were being referred to the PCA.

Detective Superintendent Tim Madgwick, head of North Yorkshire Police's complaints and professional standards department, said: "There are certain incidents which have to be referred to the PCA by law, especially those involving deaths and serious injury in custody, and incidents involving police pursuits, and these are in line with the national average.

"However, at North Yorkshire Police, we take complaints very seriously, and operate a policy of transparency, where we will voluntarily refer a case to the PCA for their supervision, if we think it could be of benefit to all concerned.

"This way, all parties can be satisfied that a full and thorough investigation is held into that complaint.

"In real terms, complaints have continued to fall over the past three years. In the past two years, they have actually fallen by 25 per cent."

Elsewhere, 95 complaints per 1,000 officers were recorded in Cleveland, 45 in Durham and 94 in Northumbria.

More than 34 per cent of allegations against the police investigated by the PCA were substantiated in Cleveland, 12 per cent in Durham and eight per cent in Northumbria.

Superintendent Peter Davis, of Durham Constabulary, said it noted a small drop in complaints, but said there was no room for complacency.

The PCA report also revealed there were 31 deaths from police pursuit-related incidents. and 30 deaths in custody across all UK forces in 2002/3.