Taxpayer
foots bill for chief’s
legal fight

the Courts to decide if the action taken by the Authority was appropriate.”

A Cleveland Police Authority spokesman said both legal actions by Mr Price were being “vigorously contested”.

The £50,000 bonus was first provided in 2008 to ensure the chief constable wasn’t poached by another force. It is unclear why the payments have been made in advance at the beginning of the financial year and the District Auditor is investigating the legality of it.

CPOSA declined to comment. CPOSA vice president David Griffin, Humberside’s deputy chief constable, has previously defended the public paying for personal legal costs on the grounds chief officers undertake roles that expose them to risk of litigation.

Responses to freedom of information requests to each of the four Yorkshire forces plus Cleveland, however, suggest no chief officers have faced legal action in the past five years. Instead, the fund appears to have been largely used to pay for the defence of the North Yorkshire and Cleveland chief constables facing gross misconduct charges.

CPOSA has refused to provide copies of its accounts to the Yorkshire Post or to Julian Smith, Tory MP for Skipton and Ripon.

Mr Smith said: “Taxpayers should have the right to scrutinise how this money is being spent and they will be looking on in disbelief at this latest spending.”

Mark Burns-Williamson said: “The Associations of Police Authorities and Police Authority Chief Executives recognise the public will have big questions about the payment of some legal fees for Chief Officers and have met with CPOSA to discuss this as a matter of urgency. These are ultimately matters for local decision making, and although we are developing new national guidance on this matter, decisions on future payments will be made by elected Police and Crime Commissioners. Our meeting with CPOSA was constructive and a number of ‘next steps’ have been agreed with a view to resolving the issue as quickly as possible.”

Comment: Page 12.