OTTAWA -- The RCMP received almost 13,000 formal public complaints since 2010, but the force rejected 90% of them, QMI Agency has learned.

Nine of out 13 provinces and territories have an RCMP complaint acceptance rate of below 10%, with Ontario and Quebec having the two lowest rates - 3% and 5% respectively - according to newly released RCMP documents obtained by QMI Agency.

Michael Kempa, a professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa, said the low complaint acceptance rate undermines citizens' faith in their federal police force.

Between January 2010 and Oct. 10, 2014, the RCMP received just over 24,800 complaints from across the country. The categories with the highest number of complaints were "neglect of duty" (4,341); "improper attitude" (2,204); and "improper use of force" (1,656).

Out of 24,818 complaints, only 12,407 were formal, written accusations against officers.

The RCMP itself reviews complaints against its officers. If citizens are not happy with the force’ decision, they can appeal to the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, which is an independent body that reports to Parliament.

The RCMP decided that only 1,221 of the allegations against officers since 2010 were "supported." The force decided that 10 times that number were "unsupported,” meaning the RCMP ruled the accusations were not credible.

Kempa says that the high rejection rate for complaints undermines citizens’ confidence in the force.

However, the review commission says that only about 250 citizens a year asks it to review the RCMP’s decision their complaint.

The review commission has currently more resources to investigate complaints than it ever had.

The Conservatives' overhauled some of the laws governing the federal police force in 2012 after a series of RCMP scandals triggered a crisis of confidence in the force.

The Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act became law in mid-2013 and with it the force's complaint commission received the same right as a court to force witnesses to testify and to produce evidence deemed relevant by the commission.

The problem, according to Kempa, is that due to the RCMP's size - it has more than 28,000 members - as well as the vast territory the force covers, the complaint board cannot review everything.

Moreover, the RCMP commissioner has the right to veto requests for certain information. The board can appeal the commissioner's decision, but the RCMP itself has more money and power than its oversight board, to fight an appeal.

The provinces with the highest number of complaints against RCMP officers since 2010 were B.C. and Alberta, with 5,588 and 2,626 respectively. They are also the two provinces with the highest populations where the RCMP acts as a provincial police force.

In Quebec and Ontario, which have provincial police forces and where the RCMP has a comparatively smaller presence, complaints against officers were the lowest and third-lowest in the country, with 59 complaints in Quebec and 153 in Ontario.

QMI Agency was unable to reach the RCMP for this article.

Complaints by province against RCMP officers since 2010 and complaint acceptance rate: