Cleveland Police’s Chief Constable has said she is proud of her “brave” force but that it was being “let down” by the way it was funded, following a fatal crash which killed seven people including two police officers.
In her first sit-down interview since the A66 crash, speaking exclusively to the BBC, Victoria Fuller said the force needed to become part of a larger force with greater resources.
She said her officers are dealing with some of the highest crime levels in the country akin to those faced by metropolitan forces, but with less than half the number of officers.
Multiple people have since been arrested as part of a wider police operation against organised crime following the crash.
A Volkswagen Passat carrying five young men drove the wrong way down the motorway near Middlesbrough in the early hours of the morning before colliding with a marked police car.
Officers had been pursuing the car for almost seven minutes after it was connected to earlier alleged criminal activity, but the pursuit was abandoned 10 seconds before the crash when the Passat turned on to the dual carriageway, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said.
Fuller, whose force covers an area of north-east England that includes Middlesbrough and Teesside, recalled being asleep when the duty commander rang her with the news.
“No matter how tragic and devastated you feel, we swing into action and we do what we need to do,” she said.
The home secretary announced this week that Cleveland Police would be given an extra £2m to deal with the fallout from the crash, with 200 officers drafted in from elsewhere.
Fuller told the BBC on Friday that she was grateful for the support the force had been given, but added: “I need that all the time.”
Cleveland’s Labour police and crime commissioner has previously said the force needed an extra £20m a year to hire more officers and crack down on organised crime.
Cleveland Police is grappling with the highest recorded crime rate of anywhere in England and Wales, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures for the year to March show.
At the same time, Fuller said Cleveland Police had experienced the largest decrease in the number of officers since 2010 and was staffed as if it were a rural force.
“It absolutely needs to change,” she said.
Fuller expressed hope that reform to policing across the country was on the horizon, and that Cleveland Police would become one of the “big, strategic forces that have the resource, the flex and the capability to surge when they need to surge”.
She added: “In the meantime, we need additional funding… to take us to that point.”
Fuller denied that gangs had control over parts of Middlesbrough, describing it as a “complex” area to police, with high rates of school absence, drug addiction and mental health issues.
“We’re doing the very, very best with what we’ve got – and we absolutely do need more.”
Authorities say high deprivation and unemployment in the area are fueling organised crime.
“When young people have little aspiration or hope, who don’t have confidence in the state, then unfortunately criminals exploit these people,” Fuller said.
“They give confidence, and they give them hope, and they give them aspiration. And sadly what that means is young people doing things without thought of consequences.”
