Chief Inspector highlights 'inefficient' use of resources at Cleveland Police

The Chief Inspector of Constabulary has said Cleveland Police's working practices were "about as inefficient as you can possibly imagine".

Sir Thomas Winsor made the remarks while discussing his report into the state of policing over the last year.

He described the force's sharing of body-worn cameras and laptops as being a particular source of inefficiency, adding he was "startled to discover" Cleveland Police didn't have enough bodycams for all frontline officers.

He said providing all of those officers with that equipment would have broadly been a one-off cost of £300,000 saying, "It's really extraordinary why they didn't do that."

In another criticism of working practices, he said some officers were still taking notes using pen and paper and then "queuing up" to "take turns to key in" the information on to police laptops - because there were not enough laptops to go around.

Sir Winsor did, however, say that Cleveland Police had been taking the issues seriously under its new leadership.

Richard Lewis, Cleveland Police Chief Constable, said: "We note Sir Thomas Winsor's recognition that we are taking these challenges seriously and look forward to continuing to work with him as we move forward.

"As an organisation we've identified that our performance is not good enough.

"We're being honest with our communities about the scale of change necessary and took the unprecedented step last week of writing an open letter to them pledging to make the decisive improvements necessary.

"This is a big piece of work and we do not underestimate the challenges ahead of us.

"We must also be clear that, based on what we have seen, this is not simply about a lack of resources; it's about how these resources are being used."