    ray mallon (born 1955, thornaby-on-tees, yorkshire, england) is the first directly elected mayor of middlesbrough and former detective superintendent of cleveland police. in 2001 he was forced to resign from the police after pleading guilty to 14 charges of misconduct, though he maintains his innocence. ==early life== ray mallon was raised in thornaby-on-tees, yorkshire, a working-class town near middlesbrough and stockton-on-tees, the only child of joe and pauline mallon. his father was a coalman and an amateur boxer. as a teenager, mallon captained the under-20 great britain water polo team and went on to represent his country over 50 times. he said that one of the main reasons for joining the police force was because it gave him the opportunity to train. ==police career== ===cleveland police=== mallon joined cleveland police on his 19th birthday in june 1974. he first came to national attention in august 1996 as a detective inspector at hartlepool, one of cleveland's four policing divisions. mallon developed a policing strategy which he called "here and now', policing based on four principles: education, prevention, punishment, and rehabilitation. a television documentary was made, comparing the tactics of william j. bratton who was brought to hartlepool to meet mallon, who would subsequently pay a return visit to mr bratton in new york. mr bratton said at the time: "just like the raf used radar for early warning in the battle of britain, ray mallon is proving that a strategy of timely, accurate intelligence, rapid response, effective tactics and relentless follow up can defeat overwhelming odds."'readers digest, may 1997 in october 1996 mallon was transferred to the neighbouring division of middlesbrough and promoted to the rank of detective superintendent in charge of the criminal investigation department. he attracted attention when he announced that if he did not cut crime by 20% in 18 months he would stand down. during this time he was nicknamed '[[r
1955_births Alumni_of_Teesside_University British_police_officers Independent_politicians_in_England Living_people Mayors_of_Middlesbrough People_from_Middlesbrough People_from_Thornaby-on-Tees