Frontline officers will not be sacrificed to balance the books of Britain's most controversial police force.

Cleveland Police Authority has set up rigorous budget monitoring to curb spending, in response to the Audit Commission's criticism of a "spend, spend, spend" culture that led to a £7.3m funding deficit.

And today Chief Constable Sean Price broke his silence when he made it clear the force will not be placed in the same perilous situation again and reassured the public that the number of officers on the beat would not drop as a consequence of the enforced savings.

He said: "I am satisfied that these savings can be achieved without affecting our core responsibilities of protecting the public and reducing crime and anti-social behaviour.

"I share the Commission's concern at the way reserves have been allowed in the past to drop to such a low level. That would have left us in a perilous position had we faced a major crisis. This cannot be allowed to happen again."

"The public as a right to expect better and I assure them that I will do all in my power to ensure such a situation never arises again," he added.

The funding row resulted in authority chairman Ken Walker being rejected by Middlesbrough Council's labour group as its representative for next year, however he retains his powerful position until the annual meeting in July.

The Audit Commission report identified 16 key recommendations that needed to be implemented to safeguard the financial future of the authority.

Coun Walker, speaking after the meeting, said: "The task we now face is to look at the wide-ranging recommendations from the District Auditor and to consider how we can achieve improved processes and procedures, which will both avoid the kind of situation we have faced recently and at the same time enable us to maintain the highest possible level of funding for front-line policing."

However, during the meeting, Redcar and Cleveland councillor Bill Clarke said he hoped those responsible for the financial problems will be brought to book.

He said: "We have got 16 recommendations to recognise these weaknesses but we could quite easily say someone somewhere has got away with it."

Speaking after the meeting, Middlesbrough councillor Joan McTigue said she was unimpressed with the outcome.

She added: "The entire meeting felt rehearsed and stage managed. There was no probing or trying questions, the members just accepted the findings - maybe that's how they got in this mess in the first place.

"For me there are still many questions that need answering for the people of Cleveland who deserve a top quality police force."