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'Superforce' Plans Get Green Light From Home Secretary

Police chiefs in Northumbria and Durham have welcomed the Home Secretary’s decision to go ahead with restructuring plans that will see the merging of three police forces in the North East.

Northumbria Chief Constable Mike Craik said that the decision to amalgamate Northumbria, Durham and Cleveland forces, creating an overarching ‘superforce’, will “supply the very best policing for everyone.” Durham Chief Constable Jon Stoddart said: “From a professional policing point of view there has only ever been one option, a single strategic force.” However, the Cleveland Police branded the decision “a judgement based on just one piece in a very complex jigsaw” and one which will “destroy the very foundations of local consent and accountability on which British policing is built.” Representatives of the three forces were in London yesterday to discuss the move with Home Secretary Charles Clark.

Reacting to Mr Clark’s decision to go ahead with the restructuring plans, Northumbria Chief Constable Mike Craik said: “We are delighted that the Home Secretary has agreed that the best way to police the North East in the 21st century is by a single strategic force.

“Although we recognise that politicians in Cleveland have some concerns we have no doubt that an amalgamation of the three forces will supply the very best policing for everyone in the region.” Councillor Dave McLuckie, chair of the Cleveland Police Authority, however said that the decision “flies in the face of the overwhelming views of the public across the North East” and affirmed that the force would remain ‘resolute’ in its opposition to the merger.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .