Cleveland Police Chief Seeks £20 Million More Funding After 7 Die in A66 Crash
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 4
Cleveland Police Chief Seeks £20 Million More Funding After 7 Die in A66 Crash
3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 4
Summary
Victoria Fuller said Cleveland Police is being “let down” by its funding after the 22 August A66 crash killed seven people, including PCs Matthew Blades and Tom Clough.
Fuller said the force faces one of England and Wales’ highest crime rates with less than half the officers of metropolitan forces, and wants Cleveland folded into a larger force with greater resources.
The Home Office has offered an extra £2 million and drafted in 200 officers after the crash, but Fuller said the force needs that level of support permanently rather than as a one-off response.
The crash followed a nearly seven-minute pursuit of a Volkswagen Passat linked to alleged criminal activity; the IOPC said officers abandoned the chase 10 seconds before the car drove the wrong way and hit a police vehicle.
Cleveland has since made multiple arrests in an organised-crime operation, while Fuller linked deprivation, unemployment and low aspiration in Middlesbrough and Teesside to gangs recruiting young people.