Our Parliamentary spokesman Simon Clarke has met the Chief Constable of Cleveland Police, Iain Spittal, to discuss the outlook for policing in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland.
Simon used the meeting to press the Chief Constable on what action he is taking to tackle rural crime in East Cleveland and to deliver effective neighbourhood policing in Middlesbrough.
After many years of serious problems within Cleveland Police, they discussed the latest report from HMIC in November which rated the force as “Good” against a number of key benchmarks and praised the way it is managing its resources. Since taking charge in January 2016, the Chief Constable has been working hard on a number of initiatives including changing shift patterns to improve productivity, freeing up warranted police officers to be deployed on the most serious work by using police staff to fill some roles and also collaborating with North Yorkshire Police to create a joint major investigations team.
Simon has now arranged to join officers on patrol to see the situation on the ground for himself.
Speaking after the meeting, Simon said, “People in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland have lost a lot of confidence in Cleveland Police after years of dreadful headlines about corruption and abuses of power at the very top of the organisation. As a result it was good to meet the Chief Constable and hear how he is changing the culture within his force so that people can look up to it again. Iain would be the first to say this will be a long journey but real progress is being made under his leadership.
“The Chief Constable is absolutely committed to the turnaround plan he has developed with his officers. As a result of tough decisions that have been made, the number of officers is set to increase by 3% to 1,292 by 2019/20, which together with changes to ensure they are targeted effectively should make a real difference. Coupled with a willingness to continue to confront the legacy of those who betrayed the public interest, there is now a solid platform on which to build. I’m looking forward to going out with officers to see first-hand some of the challenges they face as they work to protect our community.”