To Our Communities
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As your Chief Constable, I wanted to communicate directly with you to say that despite the events of the last few days, our focus here at Cleveland Police is the service to our communities.
It is a service that has been improving for some time and we are now, in some areas of our work, amongst the best performing forces in the country. This ranges from the arrest rate for Domestic Abuse to the quality of files provided to the CPS and many more improvements besides such as our investment in NPT. These are sustained improvements of which we are proud.
I acknowledge however that much remains to be done as we continue on our journey of improvement.
I am beyond proud of our officers, staff and volunteers and they will be out in our communities today as they are every day and night, protecting the vulnerable and preventing crime.
I ask that we all unite behind them and provide the support they so richly deserve. Like them, I am proud to work for this organisation and promise that with your support, we will continue on our journey to build an outstanding police service.
In the meantime I will work closely with partners, including those placed in a temporary stewardship of the Office of Police and Crime Commissioner, until an election can be held next year.
I will continue to do all that I can to ensure that the new PCC, when elected by the people of Stockton, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Hartlepool in May 2021 is briefed on an organisation which has made rapid operational progress at the impressive rate we have seen over the last twelve months.
The support of our partners and communities is much appreciated and has a material impact on our staff as they go about their work.
I am deeply grateful for the messages of support for Cleveland Police and our hard working officers and staff over the last 24 hours as we continue on our journey towards delivering an outstanding public service.
Any support you, as members of the public provide is heard by our staff and appreciated.
Thank you
Richard Lewis
Chief Constable