When Cleveland Police Authority met in September 2002 to begin the search for a new chief constable, there was heated debate among its members.

On the table was a proposal to devise a package of financial incentives that would attract the best possible candidate to lead a force that was perceived widely to be in a dire state.

The package, to be paid in addition to the salary of £105,000 and a £32,000 car allowance, was to include £4,000 a year for private school fees and £1,000 towards private health insurance. Peter Riley, the authority’s chief executive, reportedly said that it was becoming routine for school fees to form part of a chief officer’s remuneration package.

But Alf Illingworth, an independent member of the authority, regarded the scheme as “just outrageous”. He told the meeting, in Middlesbrough town hall: “I just think we should be supporting the National Health Service and public services.

“In any event, I would suggest any thinking person who would like to avail themselves of private education or private health, with that salary, could very well afford to pay for it.”

But another authority member, David Fewtrell, retorted: “We are in competition with other people to recruit. If other areas are going to provide it, we might lose out.”

The following year Sean Price became Cleveland’s chief, joining from Nottinghamshire, and since then things — including his pay — have been looking up. The force has been restructured, officer numbers are at record levels and neighbourhood policing is a success. Most importantly, crime is falling.

No one seems to be complaining any longer about Mr Price’s pay and perks. Since 2006 he has been receiving a “retention package” worth £50,000 a year to prevent him being poached by bigger forces.

Last year he received an additional “honorarium” of £24,000 after crime in the force area fell by 17.3 per cent. That brought his salary to £200,000 — more than that of the chiefs of much bigger city forces, such as Merseyside and the West Midlands.

Mr Price, who is eligible to retire this year after 30 years in policing, has also agreed a three-year extension to his contract.

According to a recent survey in Police Review magazine, the Cleveland chief’s expenses claims in 2008 were, at just over £14,000, the highest of any declared by a chief constable in England and Wales. Mr Price told the magazine that there was “no profit element” to his claims, which largely related to travel to and from London in connection with his national responsibilities for the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Dave McLuckie, the Labour chairman of the authority, robustly defended the Chief Constable’s pay package and insisted that it was clearly within “the rules in regard to pensionable salaries”.

He said: “Our responsibility as a police authority is to ensure effective and efficient policing for the communities we serve, and the key to achieving that is ensuring that the force has strong and consistent leadership.

“There is real and strong competition in recruiting, and above all retaining, high quality senior officers, especially at chief constable level.

“Given the strong competition for posts, Mr Price would be a strong candidate for a post anywhere in the country, and indeed other forces had already made overtures to him. That is why we, in common with other police authorities across the country, took the view that we needed to take steps to retain the services of our Chief Constable.”

Mr McLuckie said that the decision to give Mr Price a £50,000 retention package had been “fully vindicated” by the force’s improved performance since his appointment.

He added: “[Mr Price] has delivered real benefits to the people served by the Cleveland force — a stark contrast to the very difficult situation we found ourselves in just a few years ago.

“In the last financial year we agreed an honorarium to the Chief Constable of £24,000, reflecting both the remarkable progress achieved over the year in reducing crime by 17.3 per cent, and the fact that the force had been at the leading edge of initiatives such as the roll-out of Neighbourhood Policing, mobile technology for officers on the beat and our new air support unit.

“I certainly believe that, in comparison with the levels of reward for senior figures in many other walks of life, including other parts of the public sector, senior officers fully deserve the payments they receive, especially given the enormous responsibilities and workloads they undertake and the impact that their performance has on the quality of life, and safety, of every citizen.”

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