Senior Police Service of Northern Ireland officers today urged the British government to appoint a commissioner to monitor the work of the Police Ombudsman Mrs Nuala O'Loan.
Commanders have a lack of confidence in the complaints process, according to the new head of the Superintendents' Association.
South Belfast police chief Mr Stephen Grange said changes were needed to the system.
He told a conference near Belfast: "This matter can only be resolved by putting in place a complaints mechanism whereby individual officers who feel aggrieved about the conduct of the Ombudsman's office can have their grievances heard with confidence."
Tensions between Mrs O'Loan and the Police Service of Northern Ireland have been high ever since she issued a damning report on the Omagh bomb atrocity investigation.
Senior officers, including former chief constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan, were incensed by her highly critical assessment.
A spokesman for the Ombudsman later said her office has been under intense scrutiny from MPs since it opened.
Any determinations made are accountable to the courts while Mr Tom Constantine, the Patten recommendations Oversight Commissioner, monitors as well, he added.
Police officers and the public can also complain directly to the Secretary of State.
Even though the Ombudsman is accountable to Parliament, Mr Grange called for a new scheme that members of the service can access with ease.
He said: "We would again urge the Government to consider the establishment of an oversight commissioner.
"Such a commissioner should be empowered to provide a determination as to whether or not they felt the Ombudsman's office acted with propriety or otherwise, so there is the openness and transparency that is essential in any public service."
With Northern Ireland Security Minister Ms Jane Kennedy at the Association's AGM in Templepatrick, Co Antrim, Mr Grange also claimed crime rates would be slashed if repeat offenders were refused bail.
PA