CLEVELAND Police is to recruit at least 20 more officers this year, boosting its ranks to 1,448.

The newly re-elected Cleveland Police Authority chairman, Councillor Russell Hart, announced the figures yesterday, saying he hoped a maximum of 60 officers could be recruited to fill new and vacant posts by the autumn.

Coun Hart said recruitment would help boost the reduction in crime brought about by the partnerships with community anti-crime groups. "The latest statistics demonstrate the approach pioneered through Cleveland Police's community safety partnership are making a difference," he said.

"In the past year, burglaries in Hartlepool, for instance, have fallen by about eight per cent and drug offences by 20 per cent.