Cleveland Police improvements not happening quickly enough

Cleveland PCC Steve Turner said he was concerned about "the pace of change" of improvements

Cleveland's police and crime commissioner (PCC) says he fears the force is not being quick enough to make improvements.

Steve Turner said he was not assured by information given to him and was concerned about the "pace of change".

Cleveland Police was placed in special measures in 2019 when it was the first in England or Wales to be rated as failing in all areas.

The force said it was giving Mr Turner regular updates on its progress.

Mr Turner said he feared staff support services were not good enough.

He said he demanded to know if there were enough fleet cars to meet demand, after anecdotal reports of officers standing in stations waiting for patrol cars.

There were also reports of police staff having to share laptops when accessing online Microsoft Teams sessions.

'Green shoots'

Mr Turner, who scrutinises the force's activities as part of his role, had sought assurances the force's "enabling" services were fit for purpose and that appropriate plans and strategies were in place.

This covered areas such as human resources, where questions were asked about how quickly vacant posts were filled, and information technology.

Mr Turner said he was not convinced by the answers given and "recognised that there were some green shoots of improvement, but that the force weren't where they wanted to be yet".

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "Cleveland Police faces the same challenges as many emergency services, in delivering efficient and cost-effective support functions to allow front-line workers to deliver an exceptional service to the public.

"In this instance, it was clear that progress in some key areas of business was not happening as quickly as the public may expect. 

"That said, I believe the force are heading in the right direction and they do have appropriate plans in place - it's just about accelerating the pace of change."

Cleveland Police said it was making IT improvements and increasing workforce capability

In April Mark Webster became the new chief constable of Cleveland Police - the seventh in less than a decade.

Cleveland Police did not comment on the specific points highlighted by Mr Turner, but said in a statement: "We are currently progressing an enabling services reform programme and providing regular updates to the [Office of the PCC]. 

"The programme is designed to support and strengthen operational policing by making improvements to IT and increasing capabilities within our workforce."