Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon was today embroiled in another row with his former force after urging police to drag criminals from their beds and ignore their human rights.

Sean Price, the Chief Constable of Cleveland, accused Mr Mallon of encouraging police officers to break the law.

The row erupted after Mr Mallon, a former detective superintendent with the force, told police to drag criminals from their houses and not worry about human rights legislation.

Today Mr Price said the address appeared to question the use of force and the application of the Human Rights Act.

''Let me make it quite clear, in no way would we tacitly, implicitly, or marginally support any transgression of the law,'' Mr Price said.

''The police are here to uphold the law. It would be a complete mockery of our system if officers were to break it.''

Ted Cox, chairman of Cleveland Police Authority, added: ''We would not support any suggestion that there can be any justification for the police, or any other agency, acting outside the law in dealing with criminals.

''There can be no justification for the argument that the ends justify the means - even if those 'means' involve breaking or 'bending' the law.

''Observing the Human Rights Act and other laws is not just a matter for the Chief Constable. It is something which must apply to every police officer and, I would hope, every other agency involved in tackling crime.

''I realise it may not be popular in some quarters but it is essential that we stick to the law.''

Mr Mallon's speech, which appears to have infuriated his former employer, was given to a group of police officers and street wardens awaiting a visit from Tory leader Michael Howard yesterday.

''I want you to go out there and smash the doors down, tear the door off its hinges if you have to, and bring it back here, and drag the criminal out of his house and bring him back to the police station,'' he said.

''Do not even think about the Human Rights Act. Let your Chief Constable do that.

''Just think about going out there and doing your job. Everything you do must be controlled, honourable and in the interests of the public. That makes it legal.''

This is the latest engagement in a long war of words between Mr Mallon and Cleveland Police.

On quitting the force three years ago he accused it of orchestrating a ''witch-hunt'' against him.

He was suspended from duty in 1997 for ''alleged activity which could be construed as criminal''.

At the time he was head of CID in Middlesbrough and had pioneered zero-tolerance policing in the UK.

But the Crown Prosecution Service later decided not to proceed with any criminal prosecution.

When he quit the force in 2001 he said: ''I have become the most investigated officer in the history of the British police service.

''I believe a dirty tricks campaign has been orchestrated against me from within Cleveland Police HQ.''