In 2023–2025, we carried out a PEEL inspection of Cleveland Police. PEEL stands for police efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy.
We inspected how well the force performed in several areas of policing. Most of these areas were then graded as outstanding, good, adequate, requires improvement or inadequate.
Find out more about Cleveland police
More information about the PEEL assessments
Our inspection assessed how good Cleveland Police is in nine areas of policing. We make graded judgments in eight of these nine as follows:
We also inspected how effective a service Cleveland Police gives to victims of crime. We don’t make a graded judgment for this area.
We set out our detailed findings about things the force is doing well and where the force should improve in the rest of this report.
We also assess the force’s performance in a range of other areas and we report on these separately. We make graded judgments for some of these areas.
In 2014, we introduced our police efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy (PEEL) inspections, which assess the performance of all 43 police forces in England and Wales. Since then, we have been continuously adapting our approach.
We have moved to a more intelligence-led, continual assessment approach, rather than the annual PEEL inspections we used in previous years. Forces are assessed against the characteristics of good performance, set out in the PEEL Assessment Framework 2023–2025, and we more clearly link our judgments to causes of concern and areas for improvement.
It isn’t possible to make direct comparisons between the grades awarded in this PEEL inspection and those from the previous cycle of PEEL inspections. This is because we have increased our focus on making sure forces are achieving appropriate outcomes for the public, and in some cases we have changed the aspects of policing we inspect.
Our reports contain references to, among other things, ‘national’ definitions, priorities, policies, systems, responsibilities and processes.
In some instances, ‘national’ means applying to England or Wales, or England and Wales. In others, it means applying to England, Wales and Scotland, or the whole of the United Kingdom.
I am pleased with the performance of Cleveland Police in keeping people safe, reducing crime and giving victims an effective service. But in order to provide a consistently good service, it needs to improve in some areas.
In the financial year 2023/24, Cleveland Police received the equivalent of £273 per resident. This is within the typical range for forces in England and Wales. The force received 28.9 percent of its funding from precept, which is at the lower end of the typical range for forces across England and Wales for which the average is 35.6 percent.
In the Cleveland Police area, 33.5 percent of neighbourhoods were in the top 10 percent most deprived for employment across England and Wales, and 32.1 percent of neighbourhoods were in the top 10 percent most deprived for household income. For household income deprivation, this is the highest level of any police area, and much higher than the England and Wales average of 9.2 percent.
In the year ending 31 March 2024, Cleveland Police had the highest level of recorded incidents per 100,000 population among forces in England and Wales It also received an above-average number of 999 calls per 1,000 population than England and Wales. The force answers most of those calls quickly, and it assesses the level of risk appropriately.
Since our 2021–22 PEEL inspection, the force has improved the policing service it provides for the public. I thank officers, staff and volunteers for their continued hard work to serve the communities of Cleveland. Because of that work, the force has made progress in all areas since our last PEEL inspection and has improved in most judgment grades. But it recognises that there is still work to do, and I have identified areas in which it needs to improve.
There has been considerable investment in the force’s approach to prevention. It has created a prevention command, which has brought together different policing functions. This helps it provide a more efficient and effective service. The force views its prevention work as the key approach to making communities safer by preventing and deterring crime and antisocial behaviour, and reducing vulnerability.
From the chief constable down, there is a commitment to a problem-solving approach. The force has moved to a geographic policing model. There are four superintendent‑led policing areas. In each area, local officers and staff focus on the issues that most affect local communities. This has helped the force work more effectively with partner organisations, especially community safety teams, to prevent crime and antisocial behaviour, reduce vulnerability and increase community confidence.
The force has improved its understanding of how to support workforce well-being. This was evident during the first night of the summer 2024 disorder, when officers and staff had to respond to serious disorder in Cleveland. This work was stretching for the force. Officers and staff faced aggression and violence as they tried to keep their communities safe, while still managing the usual calls for service. The following day, every officer and staff member involved in the work to tackle the disorder received contact from an occupational health professional to check on their well-being.
In our 2021–22 PEEL inspection, we found that the force was undergoing significant change and restructuring as part of the chief constable’s long-term plans. This was to address inefficiencies in the organisational management, which contributed to the workforce being unable to meet demand. I am pleased that in this inspection, we found that those plans have improved most aspects of the service the force provides for the public. The leadership, governance and performance processes have helped its officers and staff become more productive and proactive, as well as focusing on their well-being and supporting them to make communities safer.
Chief officers have made well-thought-out changes and investments to make sure the force uses its resources effectively to meet the public’s needs. The force’s leadership and management have considerably improved both its service to the public and outcomes for victims of crime.
My report sets out the more detailed findings of this inspection. There are still areas in which Cleveland Police needs to do better, such as protecting vulnerable people and carrying out investigations. However, I am optimistic that the force’s leadership and management, together with its committed officers and staff, will continue to make improvements.
HM Inspector of Constabulary
Using the College of Policing leadership standards as a framework, in this section we set out the most important findings relating to the force’s leadership at all levels.
The force’s investments and change plans align with its clear strategy. The force uses data and analysis to understand its current and future demand. It has reviewed its policing model and resources to meet the demand it faces.
The force’s structured governance and performance arrangements correspond to its strategy and priorities. Through these arrangements, the force holds senior leaders to account for its productivity and proactivity, and the quality of the service it provides for the public. In our inspection, we found improvements to the way the force approaches prevention. We also found a developing culture of problem-solving.
The chief constable has a cohesive chief officer team. The force has a clear strategic direction, and officers and staff understand the priorities.
Officers and staff see the chief officer team at policing operations and roadshows, where chief officers reiterate force plans, investments and priorities. They also celebrate success and remind the workforce of the force’s values and expected standards. We found that officers and staff were highly complimentary about the chief officer team and its leadership.
The force understands what it needs from its leaders and there is a development route for achieving this.
The force supports student officers well. The local police development units act as a point of contact, giving student officers support and mentorship during the assessment phase of their training.
The force is also now successfully attracting more experienced and skilled officers than it is losing to other areas. First-line managers support the workforce’s well-being.
More detail on Cleveland Police’s leadership is included in the main body of the report.
The reducing crime assessment sets out what Cleveland Police is doing to reduce crime and how effective this action is. This assessment doesn’t include police recorded crime figures. This is because they can be affected by variations and changes in recording policy and practice, making it difficult to draw comparisons over time.
The force understands its current and future demand. It has invested in a prevention command and is developing a problem-solving culture across the force. The neighbourhood policing teams work well with communities to understand and meet their needs. They are working on building the public’s trust and confidence, and they encourage members of the public to share information to help reduce and detect crime.
The force works well with other organisations. This helps it develop long-term, sustainable plans to find the root cause of repeat problems and to make changes that will benefit communities. When crimes take place, officers generally take positive action to arrest offenders. The force is working on improving the way it supervises its investigations, and on making sure it follows all reasonable lines of enquiry.
The force has early intervention programmes to divert young and vulnerable people from committing crime. The force has problem-solving plans to reduce and detect neighbourhood crime such as robbery and burglary. Good governance and performance arrangements evaluate the effectiveness of its problem-solving.
The overwhelming majority of recorded grounds for stop and search are reasonable. This helps the force reduce crime. The force uses analysis and monitoring at force-level meetings to understand and improve the way it uses stop and search powers. It can show that its use of stop and search is fair and effective, and that it helps to reduce crime.
More detail on what Cleveland Police is doing to reduce crime is included in the main body of the report.
This section describes our assessment of the service Cleveland Police provides to victims. This is from the point of reporting a crime and throughout the investigation. As part of this assessment, we reviewed 100 case files.
When the police close a case of a reported crime, they assign it an ‘outcome type’. This describes the reason for closing it.
We selected 100 cases to review, including at least 20 that the force had closed with the following outcome:
When a suspect was identified but there were evidential difficulties and the victim didn’t support or withdrew their support for police action.
Although our victim service assessment is ungraded, it influences graded judgments in the other areas we have inspected.
When the force answers calls, it always uses a structured process that takes into account the threat, harm and risk, but it doesn’t always record the vulnerability of the caller. In the calls we reviewed, call handlers always identified repeat victims. This meant that in those cases, the force was fully aware of the victims’ circumstances when considering what response it should give. Call handlers were polite but didn’t always give victims advice on how to preserve evidence.
On most occasions, the force responds to calls for service appropriately, but it sometimes doesn’t respond within set timescales. It doesn’t always inform victims of delays, which means the force doesn’t always meet their expectations. This may cause victims to lose confidence and disengage from the process.
In most of the cases we reviewed, the force carried out investigations promptly. But it doesn’t always complete relevant and proportionate lines of inquiry. It also doesn’t always supervise investigations or update victims well enough. Victims are more likely to have confidence in a police investigation when they receive regular updates.
A thorough investigation increases the likelihood of perpetrators being identified and arrested, giving a positive result for the victim. In most of the cases we reviewed, the force took victim personal statements. These statements give victims the opportunity to describe how that crime has affected their lives.
When victims withdraw support for an investigation, the force considers progressing the case without the victim’s support. This can be an important way of safeguarding the victim and preventing further offences from being committed. The force records whether it considers using measures designed to protect victims, such as Domestic Violence Protection Notices or Domestic Violence Protection Orders.
The Code of Practice for Victims of Crime requires forces to carry out a needs assessment at an early stage to determine whether victims need additional support. The force doesn’t always carry out this assessment or record the request for additional support.
In most cases, the force closes crimes with the appropriate outcome type. It records a clear rationale for using a certain outcome, but sometimes this isn’t effectively supervised. It asks for victims’ views when deciding which outcome type to assign to a closed investigation. When appropriate, it obtains an auditable record of the victim’s wishes. The force tells victims what outcome code it has assigned to the investigation.
Cleveland Police is good at using police powers and treating people fairly and respectfully.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to police powers and treating people fairly and respectfully.
Cleveland Police gives its officers and staff a range of mandatory training, including on effective communication skills and unconscious bias. This helps them improve the way they communicate with members of the public and better understand their personal biases. Sergeants receive additional training from the force’s diversity, equality and inclusion team. The force records completion of e-learning, and it uses a Power BI performance dashboard to check on compliance. We found that officers and staff valued this training and had a good understanding of the topics.
The force has a clear policy on the use of body-worn video (BWV). The policy instructs officers and staff to use BWV when there is public contact for a policing purpose. The force gave us data showing that in 90.2 percent of all stop and search encounters, BWV was used. The force couldn’t be as confident that BWV was used in all cases in which there had been a use of force. It is working with other forces to help bring about the recording of BWV use on the national use of force reporting form.
The force is committed to making sure officers receive stop and search training. This training takes place annually as part of public and personal safety training, which has an 80 percent pass mark in the force. The training is in line with the College of Policing’s new national curriculum and covers communication skills, conflict management and use of force tactics.
The force has developed PowerPoint training that gives good and poor examples of stop and search, with a focus on reasonable grounds. It uses this material in briefings and at training events. Every two months, it refreshes the material to reflect any new findings and feedback. The force monitors the number of officers who view the online training, which helps bring about compliance.
The force told us that supervisors review every stop and search record. This is to make sure officers use stop and search powers appropriately and that they correctly record reasonable grounds. Every two months, the force’s review and assurance team carries out an audit of 12.5 percent of all stop and search encounters. For a selection of cases, this includes a review of BWV footage to provide a more qualitative assessment. The force uses the findings from these reviews at its force‑level governance meeting, and it directly shares feedback with officers.
During our inspection, we reviewed a sample of 233 stop and search records from 1 June 2023 to 31 May 2024. On the basis of this sample, we estimate that 88.0 percent (with a confidence interval of +/- 4.1 percentage points) of all stop and searches carried out by the force during this period had reasonable grounds. This is broadly unchanged compared to the findings from our previous review of records from 1 January to 31 December 2021, when we found that 80.7 percent (with a confidence interval of +/- 5.1 percentage points) of all stop and searches carried out by the force had reasonable grounds. Of the records we reviewed for stop and searches on people who self-identified as from an ethnic minority background, 21 of 23 had reasonable grounds recorded.
Our review of BWV footage of stop and search encounters showed officers were always calm, courteous and respectful. In all the cases we reviewed, the officers explained the grounds of and reason for the search.
In the year ending 31 March 2024, Cleveland Police carried out 8,993 stop and searches on people and vehicles. This was a 26 percent increase in stop and searches compared to the year ending 31 March 2023.
In the year ending 31 March 2024, based on population data from the 2021 census, Black people were 1.3 times as likely as White people to be stopped and searched in Cleveland, compared to 3.6 times across England and Wales. Asian or Asian British people were 0.8 times as likely as White people to be stopped and searched by Cleveland Police, compared to the average disproportionality rate of 1.3 across England and Wales.
Also in the year ending 31 March 2024, Cleveland Police found linked items in 18.9 percent of stop and search encounters. This is when officers found a stolen or prohibited item that was linked to the reason for the search. Cleveland Police’s linked find rate is at the lower end of the typical range for forces across England and Wales, for which the average linked find rate is 25.1 percent. By giving officers training, the force is working on improving the quality of searches.
The force has an external scrutiny panel, which meets in person every two months. To make it accessible, each meeting takes place in a different part of the force’s area. The panel views the BWV footage and written reports for five stop and search and five use of force incidents, each of which are selected at random. The attendees change each time the panel convenes. At the start of each meeting, they receive training on stop and search and use of force.
We observed a panel meeting, which was attended by a diverse group of people. The training helped the group understand police powers and meaningfully challenge the cases presented to them. The feedback was recorded and shared with both the officers involved and the force governance meetings to identify themes to incorporate into their training.
The force is exploring the use of video conferencing for the panel meeting, which would help bring about more consistent attendance at the panels. This consistency would allow the group to identify an independent chair and reduce the need to train attendees at each meeting. This reduction in training time would mean the panel could consider all the cases identified for their scrutiny.
The force has a policy about recording use of force incidents, and there are processes to make sure officers complete records. For example, when officers come into the custody suite, custody sergeants remind them to complete records. The custody sergeants also create a computerised reminder that can’t be cancelled until the officer submits the record. Each day, custody officers and staff carry out a search of the electronic custody records for any reference to force being used on a detainee. They then compare the results to the use of force records officers have completed. When a use of force record hasn’t been completed, the officer receives a reminder.
By examining how many arrests a force makes, we can estimate how many use of force incidents there are likely to be. Arrests usually count as a use of force. This means that the number of use of force incidents should be at least as high as the number of arrests, but it is likely to be higher.
In the year ending 31 March 2023, Cleveland Police recorded 17,663 use of force incidents and 11,679 arrests. This indicates that the force is improving how accurately it records use of force incidents. Scrutiny and quality assurance processes are in place for use of force incidents. There are 35 use of force BWV reviews each month. The force records these reviews on a standardised template, including use of BWV, use of de-escalation techniques, and the appropriateness of the use of force. The force analyses the results to improve its understanding of how it uses force. It then uses that understanding to inform training.
Cleveland Police is good at prevention and deterrence.
The medicar is a police vehicle that has been adapted to carry emergency medical equipment and additional police equipment. The medicar is deployed on weekends, in areas with night-time economies. A police officer from the special constabulary drives the vehicle, accompanied by a paramedic. They monitor police and ambulance calls for service and attend incidents to support both organisations.
The medicar’s prompt attendance at incidents improves communication and reduces the time police spend at incidents. This is because the paramedic in the vehicle can quickly carry out health screening. This prompt screening also reduced the need for ambulances to attend incidents.
The medicar also contains additional equipment, including specialist tools to gain entry to homes when needed. It also carries a drone, which the force can use for searches. A representative from the North East Ambulance Service told us the service is committed to this approach as it is effective and represents good value for money.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to prevention and deterrence.
An assistant chief constable is responsible for the force’s prevention strategy. This strategy prioritises preventing and deterring crime and antisocial behaviour, and reducing vulnerability. The force has invested in this area of policing by creating a prevention command, which is led by a chief superintendent. This command brings together various policing functions and helps the force cohesively carry out its prevention strategy.
This approach means the force is providing a more efficient and effective service. The force sees prevention as key to reducing demand and making communities safer.
The force has moved to a geographic policing model. There are four superintendent‑led policing areas. In each area, local officers and staff focus on the issues that most affect local communities.
Problem-solving tactical advisers from the prevention command give frontline staff access to advice on how best to resolve problems. The tactical advisers evaluate all problem-solving plans, identifying good practice and areas for improvement. Their findings are used in monthly briefings and the annual problem-solving conference. The force has an accessible intranet portal, where officers and staff can see what problem-solving activity has worked well.
From the chief constable down, the force is committed to a problem-solving approach. The prevention command has given training to officers and staff, first to those in neighbourhood policing, then to those from other parts of the organisation.
The force uses scanning, analysis, response and assessment (SARA), a recognised problem-solving model. Most of the members of the workforce we spoke to were trained in using it. We reviewed problem-solving plans and found good examples of officers and staff using SARA to tackle a variety of crime types and antisocial behaviour. We were also pleased to see the force using SARA to solve some internal challenges, such as:
We saw 14 organisational problem-solving plans. The plans showed a detailed understanding of the issues involved and clear responsibility for actions to make improvements.
The force was a finalist in the 2024 national Tilley Awards, which were devised to highlight excellence in problem-solving.
The force works effectively with its partners, especially community safety teams, to prevent crime and antisocial behaviour, and reduce vulnerability. It attends daily briefings with partners to focus on the issues affecting communities that day. At monthly tasking meetings, the force shares information with its partners to understand longer-term problems and to develop plans to address them.
For example, the force has introduced a programme to develop safer communities. It is based on the Clear, Hold, Build concept, which is aimed at removing organised crime groups from neighbourhoods, then involving local people and community safety partnerships in work to help change community cultures and infrastructures.
In Cleveland, the force has focused the programme on Stockton-on-Tees. It told us that in the Clear and Hold stages, it had acted against criminals in the area and the activities of organised crime groups, and had made 47 arrests. The Build phase is then about stopping people becoming involved in crime and antisocial behaviour. The force’s partners and members of local communities run early intervention schemes to help with prevention. They also work with the force on community activities to help improve the local area.
By taking this partnership approach, the force is helping to make communities feel safer and more confident, while also targeting local criminals. The force told us that the area in which it used the Clear, Hold, Build approach has seen a 15.8 percent reduction in victim-based crime. There has also been a 33.3 percent reduction in non‑victim-based crime and a 46.4 percent reduction in weapons possession offences.
In another example of effective problem-solving, the force carried out Operation Deterrence, which involved working with partners to reduce violent crime. The force secured Home Office funding to tackle violent crime in public places. It told us it worked with community safety partners, using 3 years of police and partner data, to identify 24 serious violence hotspots.
As part of the operation, the force developed a hotspot app, which officers and staff used on their mobile devices. The app guided them to be in the right areas so they could prevent violent offences. The app also showed the officers and staff details of people involved in violent offences in the areas. Using GPS, the app recorded the presence of officers and staff in these areas so the force could assess the impact of the patrols.
The force told us that the first-year evaluation of the patrols showed a 21 percent reduction in violent crime in the areas.
Under Operation Deterrence, police early intervention co-ordinators, who are all trained teachers, worked in local schools to focus on preventing young people from becoming involved in violent crime. They used virtual reality headsets to help young people see the potential impact on their lives if they decided to become involved in violent crime.
In recent years, the number of antisocial behaviour incidents in Cleveland has decreased substantially. For example, the number of police-recorded antisocial behaviour incidents decreased from 33,162 in the year ending 31 March 2021 to 17,100 in the year ending 31 March 2024, a decrease of approximately 48 percent.
In the year leading up to our inspection, Cleveland Police increased the number of Community Protection Notices it issued from 14 in the year ending 31 March 2023 to 80 in the year ending 31 March 2024. That represents an increase of 66 notices. In the year ending 31 March 2024, the force also issued 6 civil injunctions and 17 Criminal Behaviour Orders, and it used dispersal powers 25 times.
Through its effective problem-solving and good working relationships with partner organisations such as local authorities, Cleveland Police is tackling the underlying causes of antisocial behaviour.
The force has a community engagement strategy, which gives it a framework to see how well it is working with communities. The strategy involves using local demographic data to help the force understand if there are communities that aren’t benefiting from their relationship with the force.
Each of the four policing areas complete engagement plans. The force uses the information it receives from communities through this work to set its local priorities. This involves building trust, confidence and consistent two-way conversations to help raise concerns and create a flow of information and intelligence.
The force has a small community engagement team, which has identified opportunities to work with young members of the local Kurdish community through a football outreach programme.
During and following the disorder in summer 2024, the force saw the benefits of having worked with local communities. It told us that during that challenging time, members of the community helped the force reassure the public. Once the disorder had finished, local faith communities came together to clean up the area and help local people recover from what had happened.
The force has a strategy for involving citizens in policing, which is led by an assistant chief constable. It has appointed leads for the special constabulary and public service volunteers. It also has a co-ordinator for its police cadet scheme. At the time of our inspection, the force told us it had 40 cadets, all of whom were young people living in the force area. The cadets had supported the Middlesbrough 10 km run and were working towards their Duke of Edinburgh award.
The force told us that the special constabulary had 50 officers. Between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024, they had completed 17,560 hours with the force.
The force is working to increase its number of public service volunteers, who work in areas such as cybercrime and community speed watch.
The force celebrates the contribution of its volunteers at its annual awards ceremony.
The force has an effective approach to neighbourhood policing. It has increased the number of officers carrying out this work.
It also has an abstraction policy, which states when officers may be diverted from their main duties. The force is working on following this policy more consistently. As the force develops its performance dashboard for neighbourhood policing, this consistent approach will be more attainable.
Neighbourhood officers are committed to their work and have good leaders. They have appropriate workloads. This allows them to focus on working with communities and dealing with key priorities in their areas, such as high-harm and vulnerability crimes.
The force gives neighbourhood officers the information they need to help them prevent crime and deter people from offending. It analyses police incidents to help officers and staff prioritise areas in which there is the most crime and antisocial behaviour.
Cleveland Police is adequate at responding to the public.
Cleveland Police’s command and control system has a facility to highlight vulnerable people involved in incidents. This makes sure that when officers and staff attend an incident, they understand if the caller or victim is vulnerable and that additional support may be needed.
In our victim service assessment, we found that in 83 of 92 relevant cases, call handlers checked to establish if the victim was vulnerable. However, vulnerability was flagged on the system in just 29 of the 50 relevant cases.
When vulnerability isn’t flagged, the officers and staff attending the incident don’t know about it. This could result in them missing opportunities to support the victim.
The force also has a system to view incidents in which people are waiting for a police visit. Incidents involving vulnerable people are highlighted on this system. When the incident isn’t correctly flagged, the victim doesn’t benefit from this additional scrutiny.
For emergency incidents, Cleveland Police’s published target attendance time is 15 minutes. The force told us that in the year ending 3 November 2024, it attended 80.3 percent of emergency incidents within that target time, with an average time of 13 minutes.
For priority one calls, the force’s published target attendance time is one hour. The force told us it attends 54.1 percent of these calls within one hour, with an average attendance time of 135.2 minutes.
The force has changed its approach to attending lower-priority incidents, and it has adopted a priority 24 grading, which has a published target attendance time of 24 hours. The force told us it attends 90 percent of these calls within 24 hours. Adopting this new approach has helped the force improve its attendance times for priority one calls, but it still has more to do to meet its published attendance times.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to how well the force responds to the public.
Cleveland Police has a responding to the public group, chaired by an assistant chief constable, which oversees the control room. This group sets the strategic direction for the control room and holds the force’s leadership to account for the control room’s performance.
The force also has a quality assurance process for managing the calls it receives in the control room. At the time of our inspection, supervisors carried out 100 quality assurance checks a month. The force uses the results of these checks in training to improve performance. We found that some staff had received feedback from the quality assurance process, but others hadn’t. As of October 2024, the force doubled the size of its sample to 200 calls a month. This will help make sure every member of staff receives feedback each month.
In our victim service assessment, we found that call handlers acted politely, appropriately and ethically, using clear and unambiguous language. Call handlers gave advice about preventing crime in 41 out of 43 relevant cases. However, they gave advice about preserving evidence less often – in 18 out of 23 relevant cases.
The force has developed an initial contact enquiry (ICE) system, which helps call handlers risk assess calls. The ICE system automatically gives call handlers any relevant information that is known about a caller based on the phone number or address.
This helps the call handler quickly see if the caller is vulnerable or has contacted the police before. The College of Policing has recognised the ICE system as good practice.
Cleveland Police also has a vulnerability desk that includes domestic abuse specialists and independent domestic violence advisers. When officers attend reports of domestic abuse, these specialists and advisers use force systems to give the officers extra information from previous incidents. They also re-contact victims to offer specialist advice and support.
The control room has a 24-hour contact number for mental health specialists. Responding officers can also access advice through this number. This means specialists can quickly share information with officers, which helps those officers make better-informed decisions about people whose mental health conditions make them vulnerable.
In the year ending 30 June 2024, Cleveland Police received 361 101 calls per 1,000 population. This is higher than expected compared to other forces in England and Wales.
The force told us that in the year ending 31 October 2024, the average answer time for a non-emergency 101 call was 82 seconds. Of those 101 calls, 5.7 percent were abandoned before being answered. This performance is positive when compared to the 2020 national contact management strategy principles and guidance, which state that forces without a switchboard should aim to have an abandonment rate below 10 percent.
In the year ending 31 August 2024, Cleveland Police answered 84.8 percent of its 999 calls within 10 seconds. This is below the national standard of answering 90 percent of 999 calls within 10 seconds for forces in England and Wales.
Figure 1: Proportion of 999 calls answered within 10 seconds by forces in England and Wales
Source: 999 call answering times from BT
Note: Call answering time is the time taken for a call to be transferred from BT to a force, and the time taken by that force to answer the call.
In our victim service assessment, we found that in 92 of the 94 relevant cases, call handlers used a structured triage approach to assess risk. In 90 of 96 cases, the force prioritised calls appropriately. In 10 of 13 cases, a supervisor reviewed and approved a downgraded response to an incident. And in 21 of 25 cases, there was effective supervision of decisions to deploy officers to an incident.
We found that online reports to the force, through Single Online Home or the Cleveland Online Policing app, were subject to the same structured triage approach.
[/areas-for-improvement-singular]
Cleveland Police requires improvement at investigating crime.
Cleveland Police doesn’t always achieve acceptable outcomes for victims of crime. The number of crimes it solves following an investigation is low. It needs to understand the reasons for this, and to work to achieve better outcomes for victims.
In the year ending 30 June 2024, the force recorded 63,037 victim-based crimes. Of these recorded offences, 9.1 percent were assigned an ‘offences brought to justice’ outcome. This is within the normal range compared to other forces in England and Wales.
In the same period, the force assigned 8.3 percent of victim-based crimes a ‘charged/summonsed’ outcome. This was higher than expected compared to other forces in England and Wales.
In the same period, the force assigned a ‘community resolutions’ outcome to 0.2 percent of victim-based crimes. This is lower than expected compared to the England and Wales average of 2.0 percent. The force told us that it is working to address this through Operation U Turn, which is improving the way it records these outcomes.
Figure 2: Percentage of victim-based crime recorded by Cleveland Police and all forces in England and Wales by selected outcome types in the year ending 30 June 2024
| Outcome types | Force outcome rate | England and Wales outcome rate |
| 1 – Charged/summonsed | 8.3% | 5.8% |
| 2 & 3 – Caution – youths & adults | 0.1% | 0.7% |
| 8 – Community resolutions | 0.2% | 1.6% |
| 9 – Prosecution not in the public interest (Crown Prosecution Service decision) | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 10 & 21 – Prosecution not in the public interest (police decision) | 0.3% | 0.8% |
| 14 – Evidential difficulties (suspect not identified but the victim declines or is unable to support) | 4.8% | 5.6% |
| 15 – Evidential difficulties (suspect identified; victim supports police action) | 12.9% | 12.1% |
| 16 – Evidential difficulties (suspect identified; victim does not support or withdraws support) | 24.8% | 20.5% |
| 17 – Prosecution time limit expired | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| 18 – Investigation complete – no suspect identified | 41.9% | 42.8% |
| 20 – Action undertaken by another body/agency | 0.6% | 1.4% |
| 22 – Diversionary, educational or intervention activity | 0.4% | 0.3% |
Source: Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables from the Home Office
Note: Presented data comes from the October 2024 data release and may have been revised since. British Transport Police and City of London data are excluded from the England and Wales rate. Total police-recorded crime includes all crime (except fraud). For a full commentary and explanation of crime and outcome types please see the Home Office statistics.
Figure 3: Proportion of victim-based crimes assigned a ‘charged/summonsed’ outcome (outcome 1) by Cleveland Police between the year ending 31 March 2015 and the year ending 30 June 2024
Source: Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables from the Home Office
Note: Presented data comes from the October 2024 data release and may have been revised since. Victim-based crimes are defined as all police-recorded crimes where there is a direct victim, such as an individual, an organisation or corporate body.
Cleveland Police should make sure that when investigating crime it takes all opportunities and that there is supervisory oversight of investigations.
In our victim service assessment, we found that in 23 of 92 investigations Cleveland Police had failed to complete relevant and proportionate lines of inquiry. We judged 77 out of 100 investigations to be effective.
Since our 2021–22 PEEL inspection, the force has improved the way it supervises investigations. In this inspection, we found effective supervision and oversight in 69 of 84 investigations. The force needs to continue to improve the way it supervises investigations and updates victims.
Under the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime, forces should carry out an initial victim needs assessment to:
In Cleveland Police, investigators carried out initial victim needs assessments in only 52 of the 69 relevant cases we reviewed.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to how well the force investigates crime.
Cleveland Police has focused on strengthening its governance structures at a strategic, tactical and operational level. Force-level oversight is through the crime governance group, which is chaired by an assistant chief constable. The head of crime chairs the achieving investigative excellence group, which focuses on improving the quality of investigations across the force.
The force told us it is adopting a structured approach to quality assurance by dip sampling its investigations. It calls this process ‘excellence audits’. This approach involves using trained inspectors and chief inspectors to review investigations and establish the quality of service the force gives victims of crime. They then analyse the results to identify themes and areas in which the service to victims could be better. These findings are presented at performance meetings, where attendees agree activities to address areas in need of improvement. This approach will be highly beneficial to the force.
The force told us it had funding for 374 officers and staff who have completed the professionalising investigation programme 2 (PIP 2), but at the time of our inspection, it had 170. The force had 112 officers and staff on the PIP 2 training pathway. A further 26 were waiting to start this training, leaving 66 vacant positions.
The force has a detective resilience group, which is working to address this skills gap. The force now has a detailed understanding of the number of detectives it has, where they are working, and (where applicable) their training stages. At the time of our inspection, it was working on making sure it allocated accredited officers and staff to the areas of greatest need.
The force has an established direct entry route for becoming a detective. This speeds up training for new officers. The force also proactively encourages existing officers and staff to be part of investigation teams. It has invested in additional support for officers and staff who are taking the national investigators’ exam, the entry route for PIP 2.
In our victim service assessment, we found that on 95 of 100 occasions, the force allocated crimes to appropriate teams to carry out the investigations. However, we found that some officers and staff in those teams were carrying out investigations they hadn’t been fully trained for. For these investigations, the force had increased detective sergeant oversight. In 53 of the 58 relevant cases, officers and staff followed the investigation plans. In 94 of 100 cases, there were no unjustified delays.
We found that most response officers’ investigation workloads were manageable. Most response officers we spoke to had between eight and ten crimes to investigate, which is similar to the workload for those in other forces.
The force has developed Operation Shield to support a small number of officers whose workload has become unmanageable. Officers receive time to investigate the crimes they are responsible for. The force doesn’t allocate them more investigations until their workloads are manageable.
The force is also developing Operation Excellence. Under this operation, inexperienced officers can speak to more experienced investigators, who give them guidance with their investigations. At published times, detective sergeants, case file experts and forensic staff make themselves available so that officers can ask for advice. The number of officers accessing this support is growing.
At the time of our inspection, the force was updating its approach to allocating investigations as it hadn’t been appropriately assessing crimes. The force started its new allocation system in December 2024, and it was confident this would improve the way it allocates investigations.
The force has invested in its digital forensic unit, developing a career pathway for its staff to increase their skills. This has reduced the number of staff leaving the unit after completing their training. The force has also bought up-to-date software, which has increased the speed and quality of its digital examinations.
The digital forensic unit understands its demand, and the crime governance group oversees its performance. There is a defined process for digital examination requests, and prioritisation takes account of risk. The force told us that its service level agreement is that device examinations will be completed within 90 days. At the time of our inspection, all device examinations were completed within 87 days.
The force told us that in May 2023 it had 960 exhibits awaiting examination. By June 2024, this number had reduced to 323. In our victim service assessment, five cases had involved devices submitted for digital examination. That process didn’t cause unjustifiable delay in any of those cases. This helps the force investigate cases more swiftly and, when the unit finds evidence, achieve timely justice for victims.
Cleveland Police requires improvement at protecting vulnerable people.
Cleveland Police has invested in its performance oversight through its IMPACT (Improving and Managing Performance Across Cleveland Together) board, which the deputy chief constable chairs. This helps the force gain insight about performance and hold people to account for making improvements to services.
However, the safeguarding governance group, chaired by an assistant chief constable, is less well developed. At the time of our inspection, the strategy was under review and some tactical plans were missing; some others weren’t up to date. There were no meaningful checks to make sure important work to improve services was progressing.
The force told us it was creating a tactical group to co-ordinate the way it carries out its strategy and find ways to make improvements. At the time of our inspection, it was developing performance dashboards for safeguarding to inform this approach. Once complete, the force will have a better understanding of the service it provides and opportunities to make improvements.
We found that when Cleveland Police receives a report of domestic abuse and the suspect isn’t with the victim at the time, it carries out a risk assessment and makes an appointment for an officer to attend. The force has created 24 opportunities a day for these appointments. Officers and staff schedule appointments within the following seven days, usually within two days. The force should review this approach because it delays safeguarding referrals in relation to high-priority crimes.
The force carries out surveys with victims of domestic abuse to understand how satisfied they are with the service they have received from the police. In August 2024, the force’s own performance summary said that satisfaction for victims of domestic abuse was “exceptionally low”, at 76 percent. This was 8 percentage points lower than it had been for the previous 12 months.
In the year ending 31 March 2023, 65.5 percent of victims of crimes related to domestic abuse in the Cleveland Police area didn’t support the police taking further action against a suspect. This is higher than the England and Wales average of 56.8 percent.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to how well the force protects vulnerable people.
The force has used modelling software to analyse the demand on its investigating officers. In doing so, it has identified the resources it needs so it can meet the demand, and it has found a shortfall of 46 officers. To address the shortfall, the force has introduced Operation Unified, through which it will move resources to make its approach more efficient. This will change the way the force manages risk, safeguarding and investigations.
At the time of our inspection, the force was also planning to create a specialist team to deal with serious sexual offences.
The force has two formal surveys for victims of crime; one is for victims of domestic abuse, and the other relates to broader crime types. The force records the results of these surveys in a performance dashboard, which can display a victim’s satisfaction with each element of the investigation, from the initial call to the final outcome. The force uses this information, as well as feedback it receives from victims, at its governance meetings.
During the IMPACT board meetings, the deputy chief constable plays a video of a victim of crime, who describes their experience of the force. This is to remind attendees why improving performance is important. The force also identifies themes, such as failing to keep people updated, then uses feedback on the theme to inform training for officers and staff.
The force also has an established multi-agency rape scrutiny panel. This panel has a broad membership, which includes victim support charities, the Crown Prosecution Service and the courts. The panel reviews investigations to check whether the force followed lines of enquiry, and to assess whether the service to the victim could have been improved. The force uses the panel’s findings in its governance meetings. It also feeds themes from the findings into training to improve the quality of its service.
The force proactively uses prevention orders to improve victim safety. These include Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVPOs) and Domestic Violence Protection Notices.
In our victim service assessment, we found that the force had considered using a prevention order in all the cases in which that would be appropriate.
In the year ending 31 March 2024, Cleveland Police applied for 223 DVPOs. This equated to 3.8 applications per 10,000 population. This was higher than expected compared to other forces across England and Wales.
The force has trained officers and staff in using DVPOs and applying to the court to secure them. In the year ending 31 March 2024, Cleveland Police had 198 DVPO applications granted in court. This equated to 3.4 applications granted per 10,000 population. This was higher than expected compared to other forces across England and Wales.
The force has a system in place to make sure the orders they obtain are appropriately enforced to protect the victim. In the year ending 31 March 2024, Cleveland Police recorded 44 DVPO breaches. This equated to 0.7 breaches per 10,000 population. This was within the typical range compared to other forces across England and Wales.
The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS), also known as Clare’s Law, gives any member of the public the ‘right to ask’ the police if their partner or ex-partner may pose a risk to them. It is based on the partner or ex-partner’s history of domestic abuse or violence. There is also a ‘right to know’ in certain circumstances, which means the police can proactively share information with people about their partner or ex-partner’s history of domestic abuse or violence. This allows the person to consider what risk their partner may pose.
Cleveland Police makes good use of the DVDS, which it uses to protect people. The force has experienced an increase in the use of the ‘right to ask’. It has also increased its use of the ‘right to know’.
In the year ending 31 March 2024, Cleveland Police recorded 1,286 ‘right to know’ applications. This equated to 21.9 applications per 10,000 population. This was higher than expected compared to other forces across England and Wales. In the same period, the force recorded 382 ‘right to know’ disclosures. This equated to 6.5 disclosures per 10,000 population. This was higher than expected compared to other forces across England and Wales.
The force has changed its approach to the DVDS to make sure it discloses information as quickly as possible. When it identifies a person with a ‘right to know’, officers visit the person and make the disclosure. When this isn’t possible, they place a marker on the force’s system to alert officers who may speak to the person that there is information to share.
We reviewed the quality of information the force shares through the DVDS and it was of a high standard. The reviewing officers assess all allegations against the perpetrator and identify if there are themes in offending. They consider factors such as the language the perpetrator used during attacks and how the perpetrator caused harm.
Officers and staff working with victims of domestic violence told us they have seen the benefits from this type of detailed disclosure. They said that victims recognise the perpetrator’s behaviour from previous allegations from other victims.
There are two multi-agency children’s hubs in the force’s area. They are well structured, and the arrangements allow officers and police staff to build effective working arrangements with people from partner organisations. Everyone in the hubs understands the relevant procedures. Staff are suitably trained to put in place timely safeguarding actions to protect children.
Officers and police staff send public protection notices to the hubs, then staff at the hubs assess them. The quality of the notices has been a challenge for the force, and it is training officers and staff to address this. At the time of our inspection, the force didn’t yet know the impact of this training, but it had put in place additional scrutiny to check the quality of referrals before sharing them with the hub.
At the time of our inspection, there were no backlogs in referrals to the hub.
In our 2021–22 PEEL inspection, we found that the force needed to improve its approach to multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs). The force has now addressed this. In this inspection, we found that the force had put in place well‑understood processes in the MARAC function. A good range of partner organisations attend meetings to develop harm-reduction plans. These plans are aimed at protecting high-risk victims and children, and at managing perpetrators’ behaviour. In the year ending 31 March 2023, Cleveland Police discussed 999 MARAC cases, which was higher than the anticipated number of cases for the force (920 cases).
Cleveland Police is good at managing offenders and suspects.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to how well the force manages offenders and suspects.
The force has clear and appropriate policies on pursuing wanted people and showing them as wanted on the Police National Computer. This means that when officers and staff from other forces carry out interactions such as stop checks and arrests, they can see if a person is wanted.
In local daily performance meetings, the force monitors how it pursues suspects. When officers and staff start their shifts, they receive effective briefings about wanted people. The force escalates high-risk suspects, such as those involved in domestic abuse incidents. This means the force can take further action if it doesn’t apprehend a suspect quickly. This helps to safeguard victims at the earliest opportunity.
The force has a clear understanding of exactly how many people are wanted in its area at any one time. This information includes how long they have been wanted for and the nature of the offence. The force uses the Cambridge Crime Harm Index to help it prioritise suspects to arrest. This helps it target those who pose the greatest risk first.
The force uses pre-charge bail effectively to safeguard victims. In the year ending 30 September 2024, it used pre-charge bail for 79.1 percent of offences. It has good governance arrangements to monitor its use of pre-charge bail, and it has introduced a Power BI performance dashboard containing this information.
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 changed the rules for using released under investigation, and the force now uses it less often.
In custody suites, bail managers help officers manage suspects they have placed on bail. Officers receive an automated email reminder to update the bail managers about the investigation. The officers then receive a further reminder 24 hours before the suspect answers bail.
Bail management is linked to the officer investigating each case. This means the force can identify if an officer has failed to progress their investigation. If that happens, the chief inspector receives a flag to review the case.
This effective bail management makes it more likely that suspects will follow their bail conditions. It also makes sure that when a suspect has been bailed, the force processes them promptly when they return to the police station on the specified date.
In the year ending 31 March 2024, there were 1.6 registered sex offenders per 1,000 population in the force area. This is higher than expected compared to the average for forces in England and Wales. The force has a management of sexual offenders and violent offenders (MOSOVO) team, which covers all registered sex offenders living within the force’s area.
We found that the MOSOVO team has a good understanding of the risks involved in managing sex offenders. The team is well resourced, with a good ratio of one offender manager to 55 offenders. This is in line with College of Policing authorised professional practice. Every team member has either completed relevant training or, for newer recruits, is scheduled to do so.
During our inspection, we audited ten sex offender records. We found that all these records and risk assessments were of a good quality. Managers had carried out offender visits within reasonable time frames. All records showed good oversight from supervisors. At the time of our inspection, the force had no backlog of risk assessments to complete and was managing offender visits well.
Every 28 days, supervisors review their offender managers’ workloads and whether they are following authorised professional practice. This gives supervisors a good understanding of offender managers’ work.
The force has effective performance and governance arrangements in place for managing risks posed by sex offenders. These include secondary sign-off by a detective inspector or above for all risk assessments involving high-risk and very high‑risk offenders.
The MOSOVO team considers and uses ancillary and prevention orders, such as Sexual Harm Prevention Orders, to protect the public. In the year ending 31 March 2024, courts issued 94 such orders for Cleveland Police. The MOSOVO team monitors whether offenders comply with these orders. Whenever someone breaches an order, an offender manager records it as a crime. In the year ending 31 March 2024, 70 breaches of these orders were recorded in the force’s area.
The duty detective sergeant reviews the details of suspects detained in custody. This is to identify if any should be subject to prevention orders. When they identify opportunities, they contact the investigating officer to offer support and advice on potential conditions.
The force uses digital monitoring software to identify what sex offenders do online. This improves the chances of detecting breaches or further offending.
The force’s police online investigation team (POLIT) investigates online referrals to the force about online child abuse. This team investigates all referrals and takes enforcement action against offenders, such as making arrests or executing search warrants.
The team also works with children’s services to safeguard children it has identified during investigations. It has a memorandum of understanding with the four local councils, which allows them to share information to protect children.
We found that the POLIT worked within the Kent internet risk assessment tool time frames for taking enforcement action, such as making arrests. At the time of our inspection, it didn’t have any backlogs in this enforcement work. We found that its officers were very professional.
We found that investigators completed timely referrals to services that can safeguard children. Investigators also protect arrested suspects’ welfare by liaising with them and their families. They carry out risk assessments for suspects and can refer them to support services.
The investigating officer receives a notification if a suspect comes to the attention of the police again. This means they can manage any breach of bail conditions. The officer briefs neighbourhood policing teams so they can monitor any pre-charge bail conditions and community tensions that may occur as a result of the enforcement work.
Cleveland Police is good at building, supporting and protecting the workforce.
During the first night of the summer 2024 disorder, officers and staff had to respond to serious disorder in Cleveland. The force told us that this was stretching for the force. Officers and staff faced aggression and violence as they tried to keep their communities safe, while still managing the usual calls for service.
As calm was restored at the end of the night, the force asked all officers and staff, before they went off duty, to complete a form to say how they were and how they had been affected. The following day, every officer and staff member involved in the work to tackle the disorder received contact from an occupational health professional to check on their well-being.
The officers and staff we spoke to were positive about this action from the force. One officer had been subject to particularly unpleasant abuse and focus from a crowd during the disorder. He described how his colleagues and the force had supported him, and he talked about it feeling like “the Cleveland family”.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to how well the force builds, supports and protects the workforce.
The force has an established strategic workforce planning board, which is chaired by the deputy chief constable. This board leads the force’s approach to well-being and is responsible for strategic workforce plans.
The workforce tactical board is chaired by the director of people and development. This board oversees and is accountable for areas such as diversity, equality and inclusion, well-being, and strategic workforce planning. Each of these areas has a clear plan, with actions that are regularly updated.
The force has developed performance dashboards so these boards can identify themes and areas for improvement.
Staff associations, networks and unions participate in co-ordinated activity to make improvements for the workforce.
The force has used the Blue Light Wellbeing Framework to complete a self‑assessment of its occupational health unit (OHU). It told us it was confident that it was on track to achieve the enhanced occupational health standards by March 2025. The OHU is fully resourced with appropriately qualified and skilled staff. In the year ending 31 March 2024, the OHU average waiting time from referral to appointment was 8.8 days.
The force told us that 6.5 percent of people had failed to attend their appointments, which had been a challenge. It had addressed this by notifying local chief inspectors when officers and staff make an appointment. Those chief inspectors make sure the officer or staff member is available to attend.
The force identifies well-being trends across districts and teams. Officers and staff told us that the support from the OHU and well-being teams was timely and of good quality.
Improvements in this area may be having a positive impact on outcomes for officers and staff. In our 2021–22 PEEL inspection, we identified that in the year ending 31 March 2022, Cleveland Police had the highest rate of long-term sickness for officers compared to all other forces, at 4 percent. In this inspection, we found that this rate had improved. In the year ending 31 March 2024, Cleveland Police had a 2.8 percent rate of long-term sickness absence as a proportion of full-time equivalent police officers. This was within the normal range compared to other forces.
The force has a comprehensive policy and process to assess those in high-risk roles and raise their awareness of the issues they may face. Officers and staff in these roles receive annual face-to-face psychological assessments.
Officers and staff involved in managing sex offenders and those in the POLIT receive additional six-monthly checks from the OHU. We found that they valued this ongoing support.
We found good evidence that the force values and promotes trauma risk management. We found that officers and staff had a good understanding of the trauma risk management scheme and of the force’s commitment to it. The detective inspector lead for the POLIT is also a trained trauma-informed practitioner, which benefits the team.
The force contacts officers and staff who it identifies as having been involved in a traumatic incident. They are offered support and an assessment. Officers may use their discretion as to whether they access this support. If they decline, the force makes them aware that it is an ongoing offer. However, for student officers with fewer than two years’ service, accepting this support is mandatory, and they must speak to a trained trauma-informed practitioner. Most student officers we spoke to viewed this positively.
Operation Hampshire is a national strategy with processes and guidance to help police forces understand, support and respond more effectively to assaults on officers and staff. Cleveland Police has adopted this approach, and we found that officers and staff had a good understanding of it.
Officers and staff we spoke to were impressed that the chief constable had attended the court sentencing of the suspects involved in the summer 2024 disorder. This reaffirmed their view that the force supports them when they have been subjected to violence.
By the end of the Police Uplift Programme in March 2023, the force had recruited 267 extra officers through the programme. It recruited more officers than the programme’s target for Cleveland. This means it avoided potential financial penalties for missing the target. However, at the end of the programme, the force had 256 fewer full-time equivalent officers in the force, compared to the number of officers in the force on 31 March 2010.
As the force hired new student officers, it tried to identify any well-being or welfare needs they might have. This included reasonable adjustments to support their learning. The force has recruited an officer to lead on neurodiversity. This officer has worked with all neurodivergent student officers, such as those with dyslexia, to make sure training is adapted to their needs. The officer continues to support student officers so that reasonable adjustments continue as they begin their frontline roles.
The force realised it needed more tutor constables to support its new officers. It created more training courses so that each student would have their own tutor as they worked towards independent patrol status. During their training, the force made sure tutors understood the different police entry routes and their requirements. It also taught them how to identify and support student officers’ well-being needs.
Each local area has a police development unit, which acts as a point of contact and mentorship for student officers during the assessment phase of their training. The unit offers support and examines whether the students are meeting the assessment criteria for student officers. Students told us that both the force and their operational colleagues gave them good levels of support.
Using a successful model from another force, Cleveland Police’s HR team carries out stay interviews for anyone considering leaving policing. In these conversations, HR staff speak to those officers and staff to understand their reasons. They try to find solutions to any problems they are having, aiming to make it more likely that they will stay.
The force introduced stay interviews in September 2024. It told us that in the first week of their operation, 11 officers and staff members contacted the HR team. At the time of our inspection, the team was working with everyone who had a stay interview to support them to remain in the force. It is too early to evaluate this approach, but it is positive that the force has created a plan to identify themes and patterns.
The force has identified a need to develop a first-line leaders course that focuses on daily operational tasks and managing officers and staff. The force told us that at the time of our inspection, 102 sergeants had attended this training, and that the remaining 156 will have done so by April 2025. From April 2025 onwards, the force will roll out the College of Policing police leadership programme for all officers and staff.
In our PEEL workforce survey, we found that 86.9 percent of new recruits (246 of 283 respondents) agreed that their supervisor nurtured an environment of trust and confidence. We also found that 77.3 percent of respondents with line manager responsibilities (205 of 265 respondents) felt equipped with sufficient training to carry out their line manager role.
The force has a people strategy with clear priorities, which include positive action, and diversity, equality and inclusion. The force has worked with officers and staff and used surveys to identify potential barriers that may prevent under-represented groups from progressing or applying for promotion.
The force has identified that there is an under-representation of women at the rank of chief inspector. This has resulted in targeted work to encourage and support women to progress to inspector and to chief inspector roles. Between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024, 41.7 percent of all promotions in Cleveland Police were of female officers. For context, 45.7 percent of the workforce in the same period were female.
The force offers some support for people from under-represented groups to develop and progress. It offers this help through staff networks, mentoring, masterclasses, monetary support to buy books for those applying for promotion, and the College of Policing Aspire leadership development programme. The force should make sure it offers support consistently for all under-represented groups.
Cleveland Police’s leadership and management is adequate.
Cleveland Police should make sure it is effective at managing demand. It should be able to show that it has allocated resources to the right areas, and that efficient processes and well-considered plans are in place to meet demand.
In our inspection, we found that the force had improved its understanding of its performance, and of how it performs in the context of competing demands. It uses demand modelling software to help it understand how best to use its resources. However, we also found that the force understood some parts of its operating model better than others. This has led to it managing demand in an uneven way, and inconsistently managing capacity and capability.
We found that the force used inexperienced staff to investigate some high-risk and complex crimes. It uses its crime assessment and allocation framework to allocate investigations to the most appropriate team, depending on how serious the crime is or how complex the investigation is expected to be. It also holds daily management discussions to make sure it allocates crimes to the right teams. However, inexperienced officers and staff in some teams investigate crimes for which they may not have had enough training.
In some cases, high levels of risk or complexity only become clear during the investigation. These cases should then be allocated to experienced investigators. However, they often stay with response teams, or with criminal investigation department and child abuse investigations team officers who are only trained to professionalising investigations programme level 1.
The force should review some areas of its operating model, as well as the skills of its officers and staff, to make sure the right number of people with the right skills are dealing with the right work. At the time of our inspection, it had already started that review process by introducing Operation Unified. As part of our continuous assessment of the force, we will continue to monitor the way it develops the operating model.
Cleveland Police recognises that it isn’t making the most of available technology to help it increase productivity, and that this is restricting progress.
We were encouraged to see the force using some digital solutions, such as Power BI. This can replace time-consuming manual processes with a fully automated way of presenting data and management information.
The force uses a cloud-based platform, which means it can be more agile in the way it uses and develops Power BI applications. However, at the time of our inspection, the force lacked the capacity it needed to fully develop this technology and benefit from the efficiencies it can offer. This was because of legacy systems and those that need manual entry, such as Oracle.
The force is working with two other police forces as part of a Home Office-funded pilot to make the most of opportunities from robotic process automation. Using robotics can efficiently replace some repetitive manual tasks. This will help the force increase productivity and workforce capacity, and meet the demand challenges it faces.
At the time of our inspection, the force had already used this technology to improve 2 of its processes, and it was developing it for 16 other processes. The force should continue to identify opportunities to further automate existing manual processes and move away from using manually prepared spreadsheets.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to leadership and management.
Cleveland Police has refreshed its strategic priorities and developed a clear governance structure. It has developed its performance framework and is holding leaders to account. We found that the force had communicated its strategic plan well to the workforce.
The force also works well with communities, both independently and in conjunction with the office of the police and crime commissioner. This allows both organisations to understand the communities’ needs and to communicate the force’s priorities to them.
The force has improved its governance structure and has introduced executive meetings to better monitor performance, well-being, resourcing and programmes of work. These include the IMPACT board, which focuses on victims’ experience of the service the force gives them. Each IMPACT board meeting includes a video presentation in which a victim of crime talks about their experiences of the force. This is to remind attendees of the human impact of crime, and it informs their discussions about performance.
The force has a clear planning cycle to support its governance. Requests for funding come through strategic governance boards, which scrutinise them to make sure they are relevant and aligned to strategic planning. At the time of our inspection, the force was developing some elements of its planning, using processes similar to priority-based budgeting.
The force continues to make progress in the way it produces and uses data to present useful management information at performance meetings and to individual officers and staff members.
Officers and staff told us that to bring about improvements, the leadership team encourages challenge and debate from its workforce. We also saw this happening. The chief officer team works well with senior and middle managers. Chief officers give clear direction so that managers understand what is expected of them and how they can contribute to the force’s priorities. Senior leaders have received training in Power BI and data analysis so that they can fully understand performance data and make better decisions.
The force’s leadership team has worked with officers and staff on creating the new ‘plan on a page’, which outlines the force’s objectives and values. For the past three years, it has also carried out a staff survey through a specialist employee engagement organisation. This survey has helped the force better understand officers’ and staff members’ views on areas for change. The leadership team has used this insight when making changes, such as developing a preferred shift pattern, which was well supported by officers and staff.
The force invests in its leaders through training and development. Officers at superintendent level and above and police staff equivalents take part in a senior leaders’ development programme, which focuses on psychological safety. The force has also carried out a talent-based assessment of all chief inspectors and police staff equivalents and above. The force provides its own version of first-line leadership training, which focuses on operational skills. In 2025, the force plans to run the College of Policing programme for sergeants and inspectors.
The force has worked hard to understand its demand in its functions, particularly the response function. Based on recent, updated demand analysis, the force has moved to a four basic command unit model. The force has benefited from this change. It has brought about better accountability of senior leaders and more effective partnership working arrangements.
However, because of the disparity in workloads related to the allocation of work and the types of work being given to officers and staff, not all areas have benefited to the same degree. The force needs to evaluate its staffing position and understand the demand in its operating model. It needs to make sure its officers and staff can work more effectively for their communities.
Cleveland Police has a good track record of working with other organisations. This helps improve efficiency by sharing the costs of some functions. It works particularly closely with Durham Constabulary, and the two forces share some services. These include a joint fingerprint unit and a joint tactical firearms training facility. It also shares legal services with Durham Constabulary and North Yorkshire Police.
The force is investing in IT and understands how this will help to improve performance. It has invested in Power BI performance dashboards, a vehicle fleet app, and Microsoft 365 for managing bail. The current IT provision is adequate, although it includes some legacy systems. The force makes use of the products that its current systems can produce. In some areas, extracting data is time consuming. The force should invest further in IT so it can be more efficient and productive.
In the year ending 31 March 2024, Cleveland Police received £273,000 in total funding per 1,000 population. This was within the normal range expected for forces in England and Wales. In the year ending 31 March 2024, Cleveland Police received 28.9 percent (£46.4 million) of its total funding from precept. This was at the lower end of the normal range expected for forces in England and Wales.
In terms of Cleveland Police’s financial health, at the time of our inspection, the force’s general (contingency) reserves were £7.2 million, which is sensible. The force’s medium-term financial plan and reserve strategy are detailed and well presented.
Data in this report comes from a range of sources, including:
For any charts and tables included in this report, we have listed the data source underneath.
We collect data from police forces twice a year. We agreed the design and schedule of this data collection with forces and other interested parties, including the Home Office.
Our analysts check and evaluate the collected data. We contact the force if we have any initial queries. Following this, we carry out an in-depth data review and make further contact with the force if needed. This process gives forces several opportunities to quality assure and validate the information they shared to make sure it is accurate.
We then share our analysis with the force by uploading the data to online dashboards. As they can review own and other forces’ data in context, forces can identify any notable differences or other inconsistencies.
This report presents the results from a PEEL inspection of one of the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales. British Transport Police is outside the scope of this report.
Any aggregated totals for England and Wales exclude data from the British Transport Police, which means that the totals will differ from those published by the Home Office. If any other police forces didn’t supply data and aren’t included in the total figures, we will mention this.
We use data that has been collected outside our PEEL inspection to support our fieldwork.
This report contains the latest data available before the start of our inspection and the data that the force gave us during our inspection. If more recent data becomes available after our inspection fieldwork and shows that the force’s performance has changed, we will comment on this.
In this report, we sometimes present information as rates per 1,000 population in each police force area. This allows our data to be comparable across all forces. Where population data is used in our calculations, we use the latest mid-year population estimates from the Office for National Statistics.
In this report, we have included bar charts with dotted red lines to show where a force is significantly different from the average for forces in England and Wales.
The dotted lines on the bar charts show one standard deviation above and below the unweighted average of all forces. Standard deviation summarises the difference between each individual value and the average and can be used to identify extreme or rare values.
Forces that are more than one standard deviation above or below the average are considered significantly different. These forces are outside the red dotted lines on our bar charts and we have highlighted them in either a dark blue (forces above average) or light blue (forces below average) colour. Typically, 32 percent of forces will be above or below these lines for any given measure.
We survey the police workforce throughout England and Wales to understand their experiences at work. The survey is an opportunity for the whole workforce to share their views with us. It is a valuable source of information as it isn’t possible to speak to everyone in a force during our inspection.
However, the responses we receive come from a non-statistical, voluntary sample within the workforce. The number of responses also varies between forces. This means that the results may be not representative of the workforce population.
We treat the results with caution and don’t use them to assess police forces. Instead, we use the results to establish themes that should be explored further during our inspection fieldwork. The results can also be used to give more evidence and validate information from other sources.
We carry out a victim service assessment for all forces as part of our inspection programme.
We assess the service that a force provides to victims. This is from the point of reporting a crime and throughout an investigation.
We also evaluate how forces record crimes. We assess every force on its crime recording practices at least once every three years.
Details of the technical methodology for the victim service assessment.
We carry out a stop and search audit for all forces as part of our inspection programme.
Our stop and search audits allow us to evaluate how well forces use their stop and search powers. We review how many stop and searches a force carried out under section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 or section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. We analyse:
Cleveland PEEL assessment 2023–2025
You can find more about Cleveland Police on our dedicated force page.
Cleveland Police is committed to being the best it can be by making the most efficient use of the resources available to improve outcomes for victims and the communities it serves. It is the smallest geographic police force in England and Wales, with the exception of the City of London, and covers 230 square miles. It is divided into four local policing areas which mirror the geographic areas covered by the local authorities of Middlesbrough, Stockton, Hartlepool and Redcar and Cleveland. The force serves around 590,000 residents and an increasingly diverse population. Teesside University attracts around 22,000 students from over 100 countries and Middlesbrough has been identified as having the highest rate of asylum seekers within the UK.
Cleveland is densely populated with high deprivation levels, several wards are among the most deprived nationally, presenting a significant policing challenge. Although predominantly urban, there are also a small number of more affluent areas and rural localities which share a border with our neighbouring forces of Durham and North Yorkshire. The force area has a long industrial history with a significant petrochemical industry, nuclear power station and the busy seaport of Teesport. Cleveland is also home to a Championship football club.
Cleveland Police makes progress in all areas of inspection, but further changes needed
Find out more about HMICFRS’s work and other inspection areas.
Find out how well other forces have performed during their PEEL assessment.
You can view the recommendations for all forces made by HMICFRS on our Progress against recommendations page. This shows how much progress has been made on these recommendations.
