It may take more than two years for the new Independent Police Complaints Council to be up and running, its chairman said yesterday, brushing aside criticism that it would be a toothless watchdog. Jat Sew-tong said no staff could be hired until the next financial year and the transition from the existing investigation framework would take 'a few quarters'. He added that he hoped the transitional procedures, including the incorporation of the body - established under the Independent Police Complaints Council Bill, passed by legislators last week - could be completed before his two-year term ended. Although opposition leaders have criticised the new body as toothless because it has no power to launch its own investigations, Mr Jat said it would be independent of outside influence. He said that an in-house counsel and additional investigators would be hired to ensure this. 'We will be fair both to the citizens and the police,' he said. At a meeting of the IPCC, Chief Superintendent Alan Fan Sik-ming of the police complaints and internal investigations branch said there had been 1,339 complaints against the force in the first six months. Although the figure was 6.4 per cent more than in the same period last year, he said there was no sign of a significant increase in the number of complaints. When asked about the public concern over body searches conducted by the police, Alfred Ma Wai-luk, assistant commissioner of police, said a strong message had been conveyed to police officers about the sensitivity of the action and its purpose. He stressed that police had a duty to conduct body searches so as to protect the safety of the detainees and the people around them. Meanwhile, the IPCC overturned a Complaints Against Police Office ruling throwing out a an accusation of unnecessary use of authority. The IPCC considered three out of six incidents where the complainant was searched were unnecessary because the detainee was leaving a cell of the police station or a court building, where no unauthorised items could be obtained.