Two Sussex special constables have resigned after being accused of racist and bullying behaviour.

The Chichester-based officers quit the force during an internal inquiry.

Meanwhile, a support staff member resigned after allegedly looking at "inappropriate" web sites on a police computer.

The man, based at headquarters in Lewes, left on the morning of an interview to discuss the complaint. None of the three has been named.

The resignations were detailed yesterday at a meeting of the Sussex Police Authority complaints committee.

Complaints against police officers during the last quarter of last year went up more than 22 per cent, from 85 to 110.

The type of complaint showing the steepest rise was incivility, which almost doubled to more than 40. Assaults were down almost half to under ten.

Brighton and Hove recorded the most complaints, 26, during a period when the force dealt with more than 24,000 incidents.

The authority is looking to appoint four members of the public to sit on new police misconduct panels from April.

An independent person will join two senior police officers during misconduct hearings involving death or serious injury, where a member of the public has been seriously affected or for serious internal conduct matters.

Anyone interested should contact John Godfrey, police authority clerk, on 01273 481561.