A police force has become the fourth in the country to receive a top award.

Cleveland Police has been awarded the National Police Training Quality Approval for its high standard of training, which is only presented after detailed scrutiny by external assessors.

Cleveland's head of training Inspector David Horner said: "In order to achieve this award, the force had to demonstrate and provide evidence that we have systems in place which maintain our quality and standards in training.

"It benefits us as a force by showing to service users that our training is provided to a standard which complies with the Higher Education Council framework."

Training by the force covers everything from law to information technology, and driving to officer safety.

Outside organisations including local authorities, commercial firms and police officers from Europe have used Cleveland's training schemes.

Insp Horner said: "We are a small training department. Other forces that have this award, Kent, West Yorkshire and Gloucestershire, all have big set ups and much bigger staffs.

"Our advantage is although we are small we can quickly get things done."

The force will be presented with a certificate on Friday.