Cleveland Police could be no more after more than 50 years

Reports suggest there will be a large reduction in the number of police forces across the country. There are 43 forces across England and Wales, three of which are in the North East.

Cleveland Police covers four out of the five local authorities that make up the Tees Valley (Middlesbrough, Stockton, Redcar and Hartlepool). Meanwhile, Durham Constabulary covers the county and the remaining section of the Tees Valley in Darlington. Northumbria Police covers Northumberland and Tyne & Wear.

Not only is there set to be a major shake-up in the number and size of police force areas, responsibility for who acts as a watchful eye on forces is also set to change, with the fast-approaching end of police and crime commissioners (PCCs).

PCCs were designed to be the voice of the public in order to hold police forces and specifically chief constables to account, but they will no longer exist after May 2028. At the time of the abolition announcement, Labour ’s Matt Storey, the PCC for Cleveland, said that the decision to abolish PCCs had been “cooked up in back rooms by civil servants without any consultation with PCCs, their teams or the services we fund.”

In December, the PCC’s office said: “Where possible, the PCC role will be absorbed by elected mayors. In areas not covered by a regional mayor, a Policing and Crime Boards will be established, made up of local government leaders.”

In a speech given last November, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the current structure and functions being carried out by individual forces was “irrational” and described a “postcode lottery” when it comes to police performance.

In the upcoming week, Ms Mahmood is expected to say that new, larger forces should focus on tackling serious and organised crime, as well as complex cases like murder. It is hoped that proposals will save money and enhance crime-fighting in the country.

An announcement for new Local Policing Areas, for every borough, town or city, is also expected. Local officers will focus on neighbourhood policing and local crime, such as shoplifting and phone thefts, the BBC reports.

In September last year, Tees Valley Conservative Mayor Ben Houchen set out why he didn’t want to take on powers overseeing local police and fire services, arguing instead for “deeper rather than broader” devolution powers.

When the Tees Valley mayor appeared on BBC Radio Tees on Wednesday, January 7, potential future force areas were discussed. He was asked about the possibility of Cleveland and Durham being merged, or one big North East force and what he thought about it. Numerous possibilities were discussed.

A) Use the River Tees 

Mayor Houchen spoke about the potential of any area north of the Tees being absorbed into Durham Constabulary and anything to the south becoming part of North Yorkshire’s force. This option would see one of the local authorities – Stockton – divided in two and be served by different forces. This is unlikely to happen as it wouldn’t match up to mayoral areas and it wouldn’t result in a particular reduction in the number of police forces.

B) A Tees Valley force

This would see Darlington come out of Durham Constabulary’s jurisdiction and effectively be glued onto the rest of Cleveland. This would still be a rather small police force in terms of the area it covers.

Mayor Houchen said: “That could align with what the government recommendations, emerging recommendations seem to be, because then that would align with mayoral areas.” This would enable North East Mayor Kim McGuinness to gain PCC powers for her mayoral area, which includes County Durham.

C) Do nothing (keep existing forces)

At the minute, Mayor Houchen said the plan looks like it “could” see him be the PCC for Cleveland, Mayor McGuinness would look after Northumbria, while Durham Constabulary (which includes Darlington) would have a board of local authority leaders, including both regional mayors – an arrangement that Mayor Houchen doesn’t think would really work. The Home Office was asked about Mayor Houchen’s concern, but they did not respond.

When it comes to overseeing Durham Constabulary, it is worth noting that Mayor Houchen is a Conservative, Mayor McGuinness is from Labour, Darlington Council is under a Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition and Durham County Council has a sizeable Reform majority. However, everyone in that list, except County Durham, will be going through another election cycle by May 2028.

D) One big North East force

While not discussed much on Radio Tees, this is Mayor Houchen’s preferred outcome. A spokesperson for the mayor said that Mayor Houchen agrees with Gavin Stephens, the current Chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, who thinks there should be 10-15 larger, “fully capable regional” forces across the country, which would see Cleveland abolished.

The issues surrounding police force areas not being coterminous with mayoral areas exist under this proposal, as they do with leaving the smaller, existing North East forces as they are.

Not everyone is in favour of significantly larger forces, with the BBC reporting earlier this month concerns regarding the proposals from Durham Police Federation chair Louise Guest, who said merging police forces would “dilute local policing”. She described Durham Constabulary as “community-led” and believed the link with local officers would be “eroded” if Durham joined a region-wide operation with Cleveland and Northumbria. The Police Federation represents officers from the rank of constable to chief inspector.