Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner Matt Storey says the passing of the “transformative” Crime and Policing Act will better equip police to respond to crimes that matter most to residents.
The new legislation, which aims to restore confidence in policing and tackle violence against women and girls, received Royal Assent on Thursday 30 April.
The Act will help police deal with antisocial behaviour, by creating new ‘respect orders’, making it easier to seize nuisance vehicles and introducing new criminal offences for organised begging and trespass.
To toughen up the response to retail crime, the law creates a specific offence for assaulting a retail worker and scraps a £200 threshold around punishment for ‘low-value’ thefts.
New measures will help to monitor the sale of knives and weapons, through stricter age verification checks for online sales, a requirement for retailers to report bulk sales of knifes and an increased penalty for selling weapons to under 18s.
Matt is particularly pleased by efforts to tackle violence against women and girls. New offences have been created around the taking of intimate images and spiking. Stalking protection orders will be strengthened and victims will have the right to know the identity of their stalker through a new disclosure scheme.
The Act will ban AI-models that are used to produce child sexual abuse material, criminalise those who run websites that host abuse images and grant Border Force powers to check devices of those arriving in the UK for abusive content.
Matt said: “This Act represents a transformative step forward in equipping police forces to tackle existing and emerging crimes that cause the most harm in our communities.
“The public tell me that they are sick of visible antisocial behaviour, the use of nuisance vehicles and brazen shoplifting. The new powers introduced in this Act will help police respond to the most pressing community concerns and crackdown on repeat offenders.
“I’m pleased that our prevention and education work around violent crime will be strengthened by tougher restrictions on the sale of dangerous weapons, preventing them from ending up in the hands of the wrong people in the first place.
“And I welcome efforts to tackle stalking, exploitation, domestic abuse and child sexual abuse. We simply cannot fail to address these abhorrent offences that leave victims traumatised and fearful.
“This Act sends a clear message that the police will keep pace with the changing nature of crime and I look forward to seeing the measure rolled out locally across Cleveland.”
Read more about the Crime and Policing Act 2026