A POLICE force claiming to be at breaking point has been visited by an MP.

Barry Shaw, chief constable of Cleveland Police, hit the headlines last week when he told the Police Authority that public demands were sometimes more than the force could handle.

Cleveland MP Vera Baird visited the force command and control centre which handles about 800 incidents every day, to see the problems for herself.

Mr Shaw said most problems come on the 2pm to 10pm shift. He said: "Officers are having to work much harder than I have the right to expect.

"We have to be more honest with the public and say that for some incidents we cannot send anyone within 24 hours and we will come back at a later stage."

He said that during the next three years a scheme titled the Force Change Programme will be introduced to reduce the workload of staff on the front line, set priorities and provide a better response to genuine emergency calls.

There are concerns that the misuse of the 999 system by people ringing up with non-urgent queries could lead to genuine emergencies being missed.