EXCL: 60,000 people brought to Middlesbrough custody over last three years
We've been behind-the-scenes of Middlesbrough Police station
A staggering 60,000 people have been through the cells at Middlesbrough's custody suite in the last three years.
That's what our exclusive figures show today - it's working out on average 44 people EVERY DAY are being brought into the police station.
Chief Inspector John Dodsworth said: "When people do come through custody for whatever reason that may be, just respect the staff and you'll get the same back. We'll look after you but we don't want you back.
"I've been in policing for 16 years and I've been headbutted and assaulted. Verbal abuse you can brush it off, physical abuse we do get assaulted. It's not nice. You sometimes think it's part of the job but it should never be part of the job. You should never come into work anticipating that you're going to be assaulted.
"Cleveland has one custody suite at the moment which is Middlesbrough. We do have a resilience suite in Hartlepool. Middlesbrough has 50 cells and Hartlepool has 15, but predominately prisoners will come to Middlesbrough. We're experiencing high volumes of arrests come through our doors. We've seen them rise over the last five to six years back to figures as they were back in 2009-2010 before austerity.
"The staff and our partners with Mighty, who provide our detention officers, work extremely hard to make the detainees safe but not only that, it's to make sure we apply the group-professional practice but we'd look at getting the most desirable outcomes as well for all of the detainees that come through the door.
"There are some people who come through here that don't liek the police. The staff do put up with some abuse, they'll get called all the names under the sun; spat at, assaulted and bitten but the staff do their best to make a good relationship with the people that come in. We do have a zero tolerance to any assault on staff and they're dealt with robustly.
"Behind the uniform there's a person; there's a dad, a mum, a sister, a brother, a partner, a son or a daughter. We all want to go home but I think some people forget that. The staff care about those people that come through. We see some of the most vulnerable in our communities coming through the doors and the staff genuinely do become quite fond of some of them and they don't want to see them come back.
"It goes behind the sort of physical attacks as well. There's absolutely zero tolerance to people being abused for who they are; be it through homophobic, racism or any kind of attack on people's characteristics. Very, very strong and robust action will be taken against those individuals. It's important to recognise that yes, a physical scar can heal, but being attacked for who you are is wholly unacceptable."
We'll be having a behind-the-scenes look at Middlesbrough custody suite all this week.