Cleveland Police to be placed into 'special measures'

Tyne Tees
Cleveland Police
Friday 30 August 2019 at 4:22pm

Cleveland Police Credit: PA

Cleveland Police is to be put into special measures following an inspection by the police watchdog.

The force will enter a 'national oversight process' to support it in a programme of improvement.

It comes after Cleveland Police was inspected by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) in May 2019.

The force has been dogged by a series of high profile scandals over the last 20 years and has seen numerous changes in its leadership.

Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley Mayor, has described the announcement as "long overdue".

Under the leadership of the Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner we’ve had journalists’ phones being hacked, we’ve had accusations of institutional racism, we’ve had millions of pounds worth of compensation paid out, we’ve had more Chief Constables than I’ve had hot dinners and we now see that HMI have put the force into special measures. This is beyond tragic. This is an organisation whose main purpose is to uphold the law and to protect the public and it is patently failing at both. It’s now so serious that for the Police and Crime Commissioner not to resign would be an embarrassment for the force and for Barry personally. Teesside deserves so much better than this. We should be proud of our force and proud of our officers and until Barry goes, this will be impossible to achieve."

Cleveland Police is currently at the centre of an IOPC investigation, codenamed Operation Forbes, which is investigating claims of misconduct within the force.

It is specifically looking at cases of discrimination within the force and also how Cleveland unlawfully used anti-terrorism laws to monitor the phones of journalists and former police officers in 2012.

So far, Operation Forbes has lead to nine former or current officers at the force being served gross misconduct notices.

Chief Constable Richard Lewis Credit: ITV News

The current Chief Constable, Richard Lewis, issued a statement in regards to today's developments.

In June I made a pledge to our communities that Cleveland Police would make the decisive improvements necessary to become a truly public service focused organisation with prevention at its heart. It has always been my approach to be honest and transparent with the public we serve. I will continue to be honest about the scale of change necessary and demonstrate to our communities what we’re already doing to make improvements. As part of this I have written to leaders throughout our area, outlining the issues we face and inviting them to meet me at a specially convened event in September. Over my early months in the North East, I have been deeply impressed by the quality of leaders across different sectors and industries and the passion with which they talk about this area and its people. I will doubtlessly want to draw upon those different areas of expertise over the coming years. Our communities continue to have my absolute commitment that we’re already working tirelessly to make significant improvements and when necessary we will bring in experts from outside Cleveland Police to support us. We hope that the public will continue to show support for our front-line officers and staff while challenging us to live up to our pledge."