Cleveland Police
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This article is about the English police force. For the Ohio police force, please see Cleveland, Ohio Police Department.
| Cleveland Police | |
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| Coverage | |
|---|---|
 Cleveland Police area |
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| Area | Hartlepool, Redcar and Cleveland, Middlesbrough and Stockton-on-Tees |
| Size | 230 sq miles (595 km²) |
| Population | 554,000 |
| Operations | |
| Formed | 1974 (merger) |
| HQ | Middlesbrough |
| Budget | {{{budget}}} |
| Officers | 1739 |
| BCUs | 4 |
| Stations | |
| Chief Constable | Sean Price |
| Website | Force web site |
Cleveland Police is the Home Office police force responsible for policing the area of former county of Cleveland in North East England. The Cleveland Police area covers approximately 230 square miles (595 km²) and has a population of over 554,000.
As of 31 March 2007, the force employed 1,739 police officers [1], 707 police staff and 118 police community support officers (PCSOs) and there were 172 special constables.
Cleveland Police area is divided into four policing basic command units (BCUs), known locally as districts, which are coterminous with the four unitary authorities of Hartlepool, Redcar and Cleveland, Middlesbrough and Stockton-on-Tees. The force is responsible for policing a predominantly urban, densely populated area, closely resembling metropolitan authorities in socio-economic characteristics and policing needs.
The Cleveland Criminal Justice Area is a major production centre for the chemical industry, which results in the large-scale transport by road, rail and sea of hazardous substances. The chemical industry remains a key economic factor and presents the force, other emergency services and partners with a significant major incident risk.
The Police Authority is made up of seventeen members, nine from the four councils, three lay justices and five independent members.
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[edit] History
The force was etablished as Cleveland Constabulary on April 1, 1974, covering the newly-created county of Cleveland (which was abolished on April 1, 1996, being replaced with the four unitary authorities). It was renamed Cleveland Police, from Cleveland Constabulary.
It is a successor to the Teesside Constabulary, and also the York and North East Yorkshire Police, which existed before 1974, and also took over part of Durham Constabulary. The police area is the second smallest geographically, after the area covered by the City of London Police.
Under proposals made by the Home Secretary on February 6, 2006, a proposal for a merger with Northumbria Police and Durham Constabulary to form a single strategic police force for the North East England was suggested but there was no support for this. Cleveland Police favours merging with the southern area of Durham Constabulary.[2] As of July 2006, the plans to merge Cleveland, Durham and Northumbria together were scrapped.
[edit] Developments
On the January 31 2007, the new headquarters in Middlesbrough were opened, boasting a 50-cell custody unit including a purpose-built prevention of terrorism suite, one of only three in the country. It has been designed to increase the speed and safety of detainee handling with secure vehicle docking, video links to court and CCTV links in all cells for improved prisoner safety.
The Middlesbrough headquarters is the centrepiece of Cleveland Police Authority’s multi-million pound Private Finance Initiative project which has also seen a new headquarters for Redcar and Cleveland district and new town offices in Redcar and South Bank. The building, which was officially opened by the then Home Secretary John Reid, is seen as not only the spearhead to policing Cleveland in the 21st Century but also the gateway to the regeneration of the St Hilda’s area of the town and the flagship Middlehaven project. [3]
Cleveland Police has recently launched a volunteer scheme, by which members of the local community can offer a minimum of 4 hours a week helping the force. As the scheme progresses more roles are expected to become available.
[edit] Force Helicopter
Cleveland has recently decided to pull out of the helicopter sharing agreement with neighbouring Durham Constabulary and Northumbria Police in which all three forces shared two helicopters, one based at Newcastle Airport and the other at Durham Tees Valley Airport. This is due to Durham and Northumbria deciding that just one helicopter based at Newcastle Airport would be enough. Cleveland disagreed saying that this resource would be based many miles away from Cleveland and would leave it at a disadvantage. As a result Cleveland has decided to fund its own helicopter costing £500,000 which is due to be ready by March 2009, when the agreement officially ends. [4]
[edit] Vehicles
All police vehicles have a code beginning with 8930.
