CLEVELAND POLICE’S chief constable says the force has “stabilised” violent crime and tripled the number of stop-and-searches carried out by officers.

Richard Lewis said he hoped the tactic would provide reassurance to residents, but equally he did not want to come across as a “hawkish” chief constable.

Stop and search has proved controversial in many inner city areas – particularly in London – and figures show that it disproportionately targets black people.

Analysis last month showed that black people were five more times likely than white people to be stopped and searched by the Cleveland force in 2018/19 and nine times nationally.

Mr Lewis, who was responding to a question from Middlesbrough councillor Barrie Cooper at a meeting of the Cleveland Police and Crime Panel, said officers were maintaining what he called a positive outcome rate from stop and search.

Cllr Cooper, who represents the Newport ward, had expressed concerns about conflict between ethnic minority groups in the area.

He asked: “Do the statistics on violent crime corroborate the suggestions I have had made to me that this a fall out between various minority groups?

“And if so is there any way we can patch this up between them?”

Mr Lewis said: “We have as an organisation stabilised violent crime. While we are not claiming this as a success, it has stabilised and that was one of the aims we set out six months ago.

“In support of some of that work – your traditional policing methods for example – we have trebled the amount of stop-search. 

“Newport and Gresham is one of those areas where it has been used extensively.

“If it offers reassurance – and I hope it does – we have kept the positive outcome rate as well.

“So it is not as if we are stopping everybody and not getting anything.

“The amount of positive stop-searches has remained consistent, despite the trebling, and it has been a deliberate tactic by our officers.”

Mr Lewis said that knives and blades were being used extensively in the most violent offences and another response had seen firearms deployments also trebled.

He also said a serious violence strategy had been drawn up which was a priority for the force.

Mr Lewis said: “We are better recognising the threat to our communities and of course our staff and other agencies.

“However I don’t want to come across as a hawkish chief constable who simply applies the most coercive powers available in response to all of our issues.

“The investment we have made in neighbourhood policing has been aimed specifically, among other things, to look at the amount of violent crime we have within our communities.

“It isn’t a spike simply in Newport or Gresham, it is a force-wide issue which we are tackling.”

Cllr Cooper thanked the chief constable, adding: “I am aware that in about the last nine years we have six murders in my ward and I am hoping that is the last of it.”

Police and Crime Commissioner Barry Coppinger said he was not sure whether statistics on violent crime demonstrated Cllr Cooper’s point.

He said: “We do suffer high levels of violent crime – most violent crime takes place in the home and is committed by partners against each other.

“There are tensions in any community and we will always do what we can to try and dispel those tensions and work with everyone constructively.

“If there are any particular issues or concerns that individual residents have I am happy to take them up.”

The Cleveland force area currently has the third highest violent crime rate in the country per 100,000 population and the sixth highest rate for knife crime.

Concerns about violence were highlighted when in just five days between Christmas and New Year there were four alleged murders and 13 incidents involving serious violence.

Mr Coppinger has previously written to Policing Minister Kit Malthouse to push the case for extra funding, believing that a calculation used by the Government which relies on hospital admission figures rather than crime data to allocate cash means Cleveland is missing out compared to other force areas.