Belief in Tayside officers’ capacity to catch offenders and solve crimes was higher at 61% and 64% respectively and there was general satisfaction among the 1223 local survey respondents about the way the force interacted with the public and dealt with incidents.

A total of 346 complaints were received about Tayside officers and police staff in 2008/09 — a drop of 7.2% on the previous year — but just 3.7% of the allegations investigated led to sanctions against individuals.

The report also states there were 73 “service complaints” against Tayside Police in the last year — a new indicator measuring levels of public dissatisfaction with services, policies and procedures of the force rather than the conduct of individual members.

The number of service complaints equated to 1.8 per 10,000 residents in the region — above the national average of 1.4.

A Tayside Police spokesman today made a robust defence of its performance and said the region was one of the safest places to live in the whole of Britain.

“We want to ensure that the people of Tayside are served and protected in the best possible way and that they have confidence in their police force,” he said.

“We conduct a rolling monthly programme of public surveys, gathering information about public concerns and perceptions regarding crime and anti-social behaviour.

“These surveys ask a range of questions that go well beyond those statutory performance measures contained within HMIC’s report. Most respondents are extremely supportive of Tayside Police.

“Tayside is one of the safest places to live and work in the UK, but Tayside Police will always tell people the truth about crime in the area, seek their help in detecting it and advise them about how best to avoid becoming a victim.

“In terms of performance, the last Tayside Joint Police Board meeting (in November) was advised that crime was at its lowest level in Tayside for a decade and there were 2500 fewer victims of crime than at the same time in 2000. This was in reference to crime groups 1 – 4 (which includes crimes of violence, sexual offences, house breaking, theft and vandalism) from April to September 2009.

“This represents almost 1300 fewer crimes in comparison to the same period in 2008, a reduction of 12%. Detections for these crime categories were 47%, which is above the three-year average.”

“There was a 27% reduction in violent crime in comparison to the same six-month period in 2008, reversing a nine-year upward trend and equating to 105 fewer victims.

“Robbery reduced by 50% (58 fewer victims), with a detection rate of 66% — three percentage points higher than the force’s best ever performance.

“In December, Tayside Police formally announced the opening of their new Force Control Centre at Headquarters in Dundee, as well as a non-emergency Contact Centre facility at divisional HQ in Perth.

“The developments represented a £420,000 investment by Tayside Joint Police Board and led to an increase in the numbers of staff available to take all 999 calls and led to further improvement in the coordination of our responses.”