More people believe complaints about the police are not being handled properly, according to figures released on Monday.

Applications from the public for complaints to be reviewed by the Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland rose 19% to 133 last year.

But the commissioner, Professor John McNeill, found that in two out of three cases, the complaints had been handled "reasonably" by police.

Out of the applications for the year ending March 31, 44 were for Strathclyde Police followed by 21 for Northern Constabulary.

A spokeswoman for the commissioner said: "This is because Strathclyde is the largest force by number of officers and the most densely populated.

"If you look at the most recent statistics available for the average number of complaints per 1000 police officers, Strathclyde is the same as the average for Scotland as a whole at 362 complaints."

In the year to March 31, 2010, Professor McNeill wrote 69 reports involving more than 300 complaints about the behaviour of police and quality of service received by members of the public.

In his annual report, released on Monday, the commissioner urged a fundamental shift in the way complaints are handled by the police.

He said: "One of the major pieces of work for next year will be the publication of Statutory Guidance to Scotland's police that will help to create a police complaints system that embraces learning rather than blame."