THE news that a senior police officer who has admitted his force has been "failing" local communities has been welcomed.

Cleveland Police Chief Constable Richard Lewis has vowed to turn around the troubled force after identifying a number of failings during his first two months in post.

He says his pledge to implement sweeping changes is backed by his intention to instil a sense of accountability throughout the force and create an open and honest relationship with residents.

As part of his shake-up he said police officers will be returned to neighbourhood areas after being taken off to concentrate on response earlier this year.

And the force has pledged to restart a plan to transform its professional standards department to better scrutinise police conduct.

In an open letter he said: “As an organisation we’ve identified that our performance is not good enough and this means we’re letting people down, putting people at risk and failing those who need our help the most.”

When asked how he intended to implement change, he said: “I have listened to staff, the community, business leaders and elected representatives and I have formed a view that we need fundamental reform. I think that the first thing that you would expect from a police service is honesty and I think that it is important that we are honest with our communities about the need to change in a number of areas.

“There are staff here who are equal to anywhere in the country but what they have lacked is a consistency of leadership, a consistent message about what is important to us and getting back out into our communities.

“We are setting clear priorities and making sure that we hold people to account amongst us and that has been lacking in Cleveland Police.”

When asked what measures he will be introducing to tackle an increase in violent crime, he said: “What hasn’t been here before is a violent crime strategy and we need to make sure there is a co-ordinated response to the way we respond to violent crime, part of that response will be neighbourhood officers permanently within their community getting to know who their victims are, the community generally and the offenders and then working within those communities to solve those problems.”

Police and Crime Commissioner, Barry Coppinger, offered his support to the new chief’s vision for the future of the force.

He said: “Richard has been in post for 60 days and I am encouraged by the quality of leadership he has demonstrated so far. I will continue to work in partnership with him to ensure the public receive the best possible policing service.

“I will continue to work with Richard on the delivery of key programmes to support improvements to policing and encourage open and transparent engagement between our teams.

“In addition to a range of scrutiny methods already in place, my office will further amplify and deepen approaches to scrutiny and holding to account. This will include an increase in the use of independent scrutiny approaches and a clear expectation for the Chief Constable to confirm what will change and by when.”

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has welcomed the honesty from the new chief constable but called on the Police and Crime Commissioner, Barry Coppinger, to stand down.

He said: “It’s refreshing to have a Chief Constable of Cleveland Police that doesn’t bury his head in the sand and pretend that Cleveland Police is fit for purpose and I’m pleased Chief Constable Richard Lewis is willing to face the reality that the public have known for years.

“Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of the Police and Crime Commissioner, Barry Coppinger, who over the last eight years has refused to deal with the problems within the force. This is a fundamental failing of the Police and Crime Commissioner in fulfilling his role and now that we have the truth from the Chief Constable it removes any credibility Barry had left.”