The Chair of Cleveland Police Authority said today that they would ‘examine very carefully’ plans for a national police air service.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has announced plans to introduce a national service from 2012, arguing that it will offer better value for money than the current arrangements where air support is organised locally.
Said Authority Chair Councillor Dave McLuckie “Of course, we need to look carefully at any proposals for delivering services more cost-effectively, especially given the severe financial situation we are now facing. At the same time we need to ensure that the quality of the service we have established with our unit is maintained, given that air support is especially vital in an area such as Cleveland with both our significant crime challenges and concentration of high risk industrial sites.
“ACPO recognises that it needs the agreement of police authorities and we will certainly examine the proposals announced today very carefully. For example we need to look at the implications of reducing the overall number of aircraft nationally from 31 to 23 and certainly we understand that it would be intended to maintain an aircraft at Durham Tees Valley.
“The proposals visualise what is described as ‘a national service, organised regionally and delivered locally.’ That is something we would need to consider very carefully given our past experience of the difficulties involved in a regional service which, of course, led to us having to establish our own unit.”