POLICE will introduce a new method of dealing with complaints about officers taking too long to respond to calls from the public.

The move comes after the Daily Echo revealed two cases this year of how it took police days to respond to two 999 calls in Southampton.

Earlier this month, officers took four days to respond to an emergency call from staff at a charity shop.

That came two months after the newspaper reported how it took three days for police to respond following a till snatch at a newsagents, even though the shop was just yards from the city centre station.

But Assistant Chief Constable Simon Cole said a new way of recording public satisfaction with police response times will be implemented.

He made the comment during a meeting of Hampshire Police Authority's Performance Panel, where concerns were raised over the 40 per cent rise in complaints against county police officers over the past year.

Panel member Councillor Peter Mason asked Mr Cole: "People do say to me that when they have reported something it does take some time before somebody actually turns up.

"Is that why your complaints are up by 40 per cent?"

Mr Cole said that although the figures recorded complaints made against individual officers rather than complaints involving the system, he did acknowledge that in some cases the response to some incidents was not adequate.

"I think that while we are getting the response times to actually answering the emergency call right, perhaps in some cases the allocating of the incident isn't appropriate.

"However, I would say we get it right more a lot more times than we get it wrong."

He added that a new system asking people how the police performed throughout the reporting process would be introduced next year to identify any areas that need improving.

This year in Southampton at least two shopkeepers who were in walking distance of their nearest police station have been kept waiting by police.

Earlier this month the Daily Echo reported how staff at Barnardo's in Bitterne waited four days before an officer turned up after thieves snatched £75 from the till.

It followed an incident in February when a newsagent in the city centre was told she would be kept waiting at least three days before officers could interview her about a till snatch.

The rise in violent crime was also discussed at the meeting.

Members were told how the 53 per cent rise, as reported in yesterday's Daily Echo, was the result of a problem with a new crime-recording system.

However, Mr Cole did acknowledge that the rise was in line with a national increase being linked to alcohol.

He said: "We have identified the problem of binge drinking and under-age drinking and initiatives to target these will be happening in the summer."