A member of Cumbria’s top team has been confirmed as Cleveland’s new Chief Constable.

Deputy Chief Constable Mark Webster is the preferred candidate after a search that began when Richard Lewis stood down last July to join Dyfed Powys.

His appointment came after the recruitment process was started again because the candidate pool was assessed not to be strong enough.

And he becomes the eighth Chief since 2012.

But this time around, the force’s Police and Crime Commissioner – and a recruitment panel that included the College of Policing – believed Mr Webster is the man to continue the force’s improvement.

Cleveland has some of the highest rates for violent and serious crime in the country and was rated as failing by HM Inspectorate.

But recent HMI reviews point to the force having turned the situation around.

Mr Webster has career experience in both improving teams and tackling serious crime.

At Greater Manchester, where he joined in 1992, he was a senior detective in Moss Side and in Manchester city centre, and gained significant experience in homicide and major crime investigation.

Later on he managed the transition of specialist National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) units into the NCA, and then went on to command those functions in addition to Armed Operations, Anti-Corruption, Technical Operations and the UK Human Trafficking Centre.

While at Manchester he was posted to the Stockport Division to deal with issues of racism and corruption that were highlighted in the BBC Panorama ‘Secret Policeman’.

Mr Webster joined Cumbria Police in July 2017 as Assistant Chief Constable and was promoted to Deputy Chief Constable in March 2018.

PCC Steve Turner said: “Cleveland is not an easy place to police, and therefore we needed a process that was going to put candidates to the test and draw out their extensive skills and experience.

“I am delighted to select Mark as my preferred candidate for the role of Chief Constable. At every stage of the assessment process, Mark proved himself as a talented and dedicated police leader with a wealth of experience in operational policing.”

The recent troubles for the force showed in the priorities set out by the recruitment panel which included officers and staff. Stability is their main demand stating they wanted “strong leadership, a commitment to stay in the role long-term and being approachable”.

And if confirmed to the post, he'll be joining at the point where Cleveland could be about to make a fresh start.

Extra officers will boost Cleveland’s ‘journey of improvement’, its PCC has pledged.

Plans to recruit more officers on top of the Uplift allocation have been confirmed by Cleveland’s Police and Crime Commissioner after the precept increase was signed off by residents.

It will increase by 3.76% over the next financial year which together with extra government funding means the force will have an additional £6.8m funding for 2022/23.

Officer numbers are expected to reach 1,460 by March 2023, an increase of over 250 – or 20% - compared to April 2019.

“With Cleveland Police set to receive almost half a billion pounds over the next three years and equipped with 250 additional police officers, the force is in a prime position to continue their journey of improvement.”