Complaints received by Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan against members of the PSNI have dropped by 3% over last year to a new low.
Despite the drop serious allegations of racism and sectarianism are still being made.
The Ombudsman's office's annual report also confirmed more Protestants than Catholics made criticisms.
A total of 2,885 complaints arose during 2004-05, down 91 on the year before and continuing a decade long fall from the 4,000 once made against the old RUC.
The total contained small numbers of allegations involving either racist (eight) or sectarian conduct (16). These included a landlord claiming an arresting officer told him: "If you get rid of the niggers (tenants) we may leave you alone."
Another man alleged a police officer marched up and down singing loyalist songs outside his cell.
No outcome to the complaints were included in the report as investigators were said to be still examining the claims.
Mrs O'Loan said: "It is important that ethnic minority communities in Northern Ireland report incidents of racism and hatred to the police but, for a variety of reasons, they do not do so.
"It is equally important that if they experience racist behaviour by the police, they report it to this Office. We want an accurate picture of the problem."
The Police Service accepted many hate related incidents go unreported for a number of reasons, including victim mistrust and one person's bad experience influencing an entire closeknit community.
Language difficulties, deportation fears and suspicions that police will not respond effectively were also cited.
The Ombudsman's report disclosed 47% of complaints came from Protestants, compared to 37% Catholics.