LIKE many of my former colleagues, I am appalled that the name of Cleveland Police – a force in which we proudly served – has been besmirched by the appallingly lecherous misconduct of ex-

Detective Inspector Simon Hurwood, who was procuring, by intimidation and harassment, female subordinates to satisfy his lasciviousness.

By tendering his resignation, having completed only 27 years of his allotted period of service, he has “jumped” before he was “pushed”, thus leaving the force with an ostensibly unblemished record!

This, however, begs the question as to why his resignation was accepted, when internal misconduct proceedings would surely have resulted in his deserved dismissal?

A secondary, but nevertheless worrying, aspect of his sordid behaviour, which persisted for 14 years, was the failure of his 21 victims to report these incidents of sexual procurement to their superiors, because they felt intimidated and embarrassed.

This despite these same officers doubtless encouraging the public to report such incidents of their own, and imploring reluctant witnesses to give evidence: something they themselves failed to do!

Why didn’t these victimised officers deal with sexual intimidation in the accepted, old-fashioned way, by giving Hurwood an uncompromising earful of abuse at the earliest stage, followed by a slap across the face if he persisted in his unwarranted advances?

These officers’ failure to act promptly simply led to more of their colleagues being victimised, during which time, ironically Hurwood was promoted to the rank of inspector! If these officers felt intimated when dealing with incidents of this nature, how they can possibly cope with incidents that are much more intimidating on our ever increasingly violent streets?

Cleveland is metamorphosing from a police force into a police service, and seems to be attempting to redress a perceived gender imbalance in the composition of its personnel.

I wonder whether those responsible for recruitment are appointing young women directly from the educational system with no worldly experience to rid them of their sensitivities. If this is the case, then it is a problem that needs to be urgently addressed.

This sordid affair is the latest of a series of embarrassing situations for Cleveland Police, so it may come as no surprise if the force isn’t eventually absorbed into the neighbouring Durham force.

David Middleton (Inspector, retired, ex-Middlesbrough, Teesside and Cleveland Constabularies), Stockton-on-Tees