The number of officers who attended Justin Bieber's recent house search has been defended by a Los Angeles County Sheriff lieutenant.

A batch of police units were sent to the singer's house in Los Angeles earlier this week to investigate allegations that Bieber caused damage to a neighbour's property as a result of egg-throwing.

They took surveillance tapes and also arrested rapper Lil Za on charges of possessing drugs.

However, the number of police officers who attended the scene has come under fire for being too much.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's lieutenant David Thompson, however, has backed the numbers due to the property's size and the criminal records of some of the singer's bodyguards. He said:

"I'm being criticised for having too much, but I don't think I had enough.We were dealing with three locations. And we had no idea how many people were in that house. He has had so many people in there before - some tied to guns, drugs and all kinds of things. We had 12 detectives and there were in fact seven people at the house. To me, those odds aren't that good."

Thompson added: "When we got there, we were looking for anything that would support the crime. We were not looking for eggs. We were looking for security footage, which we did get. He has not been arrested, but he's not been ruled out. The neighbour identified him and he is a suspect in this case."