In the light of the coverage in today's Times on the issue of payments to Chief Constables -- including the Chief Constable of Cleveland -- please see below the full text of the statement given to the Times by the Chair of Cleveland Police Authority, Councillor Dave McLuckie:
I want to make it absolutely clear that we follow the rules in regard to the pensionable salaries paid to all our officers -- including the Chief Constable.
Our responsibility as a police authority is to ensure effective and efficient policing for the communities we serve -- and the key to achieving that is ensuring that the Force has strong and consistent leadership.
It is a matter of fact that there is real and strong competition in recruiting -- and above all retaining -- high quality senior officers, especially at Chief Constable level.
We have always been quite open about our decision to agree a package in order to retain the services of our Chief Constable Sean Price. Indeed when we announced our decision in November 2006 I described it as 'absolutely vital in order to retain the leadership which has transformed the fortunes of our force, ensured the future of local policing...and can now take us forward to an era which will see huge improvements in the service we provide to our communities.'
I also went on to point out that, given the strong competition for posts, Mr Price would be a strong candidate for a post anywhere in the country -- and indeed other forces had already made overtures to him. That is why we, in common with other police authorities across the country, took the view that we needed to take steps to retain the services of our Chief Constable.
I believe our decision to offer the retention package, worth some £50,000 a year, to retain Sean Price's services has been fully vindicated and has delivered real benefits to the people served by the Cleveland Force -- underlined by the fact that we now enjoy one of the highest levels of public confidence of any force in the country with the highest number of officers in the Force's history...a stark contrast to the very difficult situation we found ourselves in just a few years ago.
In the last financial year we also agreed an honorarium to the Chief Constable of £24,000, reflecting both the remarkable progress achieved over the year in reducing crime by 17.3 per cent, and the fact that the force had been at the leading edge of initiatives such as the roll-out of Neighbourhood Policing, the introduction of mobile technology for officers on the beat and the setting up of our new air support unit.
On any performance yardstick you care to mention the Cleveland Force has been transformed under Sean Price's leadership -- perhaps the most important of all is the fact that in Cleveland we now have 20,000 fewer victims of crime compared to the position five years ago. We believe it is right that his achievements are properly recognised and rewarded -- and I am sure the overwhelming majority of the public share that view.
I certainly believe that, in comparison with the levels of reward for senior figures in many other walks of life -- including other parts of the public sector -- Chief Constables and other senior officers fully deserve the payments they receive, especially given the enormous responsibilities and workloads they undertake and the impact which their performance has on the quality of life -- and safety -- of every citizen.