As Commissioner, Matt is responsible for holding the Chief Constable to account for maintaining an efficient and effective police service in Cleveland.
One of the ways he undertakes this crucial role is through monthly scrutiny meetings, which provide Chief Officers the opportunity to give the Commissioner a detailed account of progress on a specific topic, enabling Matt to identify whether there are any areas of further improvement and assurance.
The topic of Matt’s first scrutiny meeting held on June 11th focused on Neighbourhood Policing and covered areas such as community engagement, resources and deployment of neighbourhood teams, challenges and risks faced by officers and training opportunities available to them.
Senior police leaders presented early details of a revised neighbourhood police strategy, which has a focus on problem-solving and proactive, preventative activity to address the issues affecting communities, whilst reducing demand on neighbourhood teams.
The meeting's findings will help inform Matt's Police and Crime Plan which will aim to meet the needs of Cleveland's communities over the next four years.
Speaking after the meeting Matt said: “Significant progress has been made on the way Cleveland Police deliver neighbourhood policing since 2022, through a focus on community engagement and building effective and strong relationships with community safety partners.
“I feel it is incredibly important that community policing is protected to allow officers to be able to work on problem-solving activity, but I understand there are wider pressures across the force that may detract from these efforts being made.”
"Police officer numbers have been affected by government budget cuts for over a decade and community policing is an area which is still suffering as a result. However, I recognise that the force is working to maximise the resources available by aiming to fill current neighbourhood policing vacancies by the end of the year and reduce abstraction rates.”
"I will be calling on the new Government for Cleveland Police to be given the additional resources it needs to further strengthen its proactive, preventative and problem solving approach within Cleveland communities."
