Durham Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the council areas of County Durham and Darlington in North East England. It does not cover all of the ceremonial or historic area of Durham, parts of which are covered by the neighbouring forces of Cleveland Police and Northumbria Police. The other neighbouring forces are Cumbria Constabulary to the west and North Yorkshire Police to the south.

Cleveland Police is the territorial police force responsible for the policing area corresponding to the former county of Cleveland in Northern England. As of September 2017, the force had 1,274 police officers, 278 police staff, 124 police community support officers and 64 special constables. In the 2019 annual assessment by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, Cleveland Police was rated 'inadequate' overall and rated 'inadequate' in all review areas, concluding that "crime prevention isn't a priority for the force and this is a cause of concern".