A POLICE force in the North-East has experienced a rise in the number of its female recruits.

On average, women officers make up 21 per cent of police forces across the UK.

The figure for Cleveland Police already stood at 20 per cent before the September intake of trainees last year, half of which were women.

Out of the 45 probationers signing on this January, 19 are female.

It all means more women will be seen on beats across Teesside in 40 weeks when the rookies are posted to district police stations.

Sergeant Helen Eustace, the force's diversity adviser, said: "The national average of female officers in each force is 21 per cent, so we're doing really well in terms of reaching that number.

"Women represent nearly half of the working population of this country, so the force is trying to reflect this figure in the number of female police officers.''

She added: "As a force, we recognise the benefits of having more female police officers, and have a number of flexible working practices available to encourage female officers and support staff to stay in the job."

Cleveland Police launched a "Gender Agenda" in 2001 - reintroduced in January - to address gender balance issues.

Over the past two years, the number of women police officers has risen from 16 per cent to 20 per cent of the Teesside force.