A TEESSIDE MP has been rewarded for spending the past 12 months pounding the beat with police.

Stockton South MP Dari Taylor has accompanied Cleveland Police officers on armed patrols, drug-busts, neighbourhood beats and crowd control operations.

She has received a shield and cravat to mark her completion of the force's Parliamentary Police Scheme.

Mrs Taylor said: "The scheme has given me an invaluable insight into the day-to-day workings of the police, the difficulties they face, the tactics they use, and the resources at their disposal.

"My work with them has brought home the enormous variety of roles that the police perform, from capturing criminals to resolving minor disputes.

"If I have learned anything over the past year, it is that the public should hold the police in a higher regard than they currently do.

"That said, I can see where they can be reformed. I certainly feel the way domestic violence cases are prosecuted could be improved.

"Having seen the weight of paperwork that confronts officers on a daily basis, I am convinced that something must be done to reduce the bureaucracy of the job. These are points I shall be making to the Home Office."