CLEVELAND Police has created its own website and is looking to people to log on, ask questions and make comments.

Administrator Andy Gray said: "We are particularly interested in having people contact us via the site with their ideas and comments. All comments are welcome."

There is a history page on the force - complete with old photographs - a children's page and competition, a section on recruitment, advice on drugs, alcohol and malicious calls.

There is also a list of the top ten most frequently asked questions, copies of the policing plan and details and telephone numbers of police stations in the force area.

Cleveland Police foresee their website, www.cleveland.police.uk, becoming increasingly popular.

Mr Gray said: "Internet facilities are available at community centres and libraries, which enables anyone with an interest in our force to access the site and learn about us. The important thing, however, is that we want it to be used by the public - and we want to know what they like and want to see."

In the meantime, Tom Keegan, head of Cleveland Police Technical Support Unit, has won second prize in a national police competition, with a software system which consigns printed files to the bin. It takes seconds to do a job which before could take hours, he said.

He said: "I wanted a system in place that was a step-by-step way of monitoring every single job we do throughout the force, in a simple format."

A national body - the Police Scientific Development Branch - is showing interest in the software, as well as forces across the UK.