THE ICAC is concerned at a recent rise in street-level police graft. It is understood top management from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) will soon be briefing their police counterparts on ways to tackle the problem. Latest ICAC figures show that 238 complaints of police force graft were made in the first five months of this year - up six per cent on the 224 lodged in the same period last year. Some 131 were considered pursuable and investigations are under way. ''We're worried about the police protection of illegal gambling and brothels,'' said one senior source. ''What we are talking about is payments for officers to shield vice-related activity by turning a blind eye. ''We fear case-fixing could be another problem.'' The first ICAC priority will be to develop closer ''understanding and co-operation'' with the most senior officers promoted in the shake-up brought about by today's retirement of Police Commissioner Li Kwan-ha. Through them the ICAC wants to earn greater trust from street-level officers to garner information about corrupt colleagues and staff in related government departments. ''There can be no doubt the situation within the police force is as bad as it's been for a long time. These, it seems, are times of adversity, times when corruption flourishes,'' a source said. ''We believe the police themselves want to clean out the bad eggs, so we want to work as closely as we can with them. ''We already have some very good links, particularly with internal investigations, but there is great room for improvement in other areas. ''We've been concentrating on the private sector but our intelligence tells us we can't ignore what happens elsewhere.'' The police themselves traditionally provided the best intelligence and reports to the ICAC, not only about colleagues but detailed private complaints about other enforcement agencies, such as customs and immigration. But recently, new evidence of force corruption has surfaced in a campaign to better scrutinise intelligence. One key discovery has been apparent increases in street-level graft, particularly among plain-clothes units. Sources said intelligence was becoming increasingly vital, as reports, particularly in sensitive areas such as police, were not always an accurate barometer of the real situation. The comments come just days after the laying of charges against two senior inspectors attached to Kowloon anti-triad units for allegedly receiving $20,000 from murdered Wan Chai Sun Yee On boss Andely Chan Yiu-hing. David Khosa and Peter Pannu were arrested in joint raids by the ICAC and the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau. There were 614 complaints against police last year, a 35 per cent rise on 1992, according the ICAC's annual report released this week. The rise contributed to a record overall rise in corruption reports of 44 per cent to 3,284 from a year ago.