'Won't be solved overnight' Cleveland Police chief says force not receiving enough funding

The Chief Constable of Cleveland Police has praised her “selfless” force as she called for more funding from the Government.

Middlesbrough was shaken after officers PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, were killed in a head-on collision on the A66.

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Welling up with emotion, Cleveland Police chief Victoria Fuller said both men were “brave, committed, professional people who put the public before themselves”.

She told the BBC: “What Matty and Tom were doing that day was a routine part of their role, so I can’t sit here and say that anything would have prevented this from happening.

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“But we have been calling for better funding for many years now. I’ve been here for four years now and, even in my time, there’s been two, two direct funding requests for additional funding here.”

Cleveland Police, which covers areas including Middlesbrough, Redcar and Stockton-on-Tees, is one of Britain’s smallest forces.

But the area it covers has the highest crime rates in England and Wales, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures released for the year to March.

After the deaths of Mr Blades and Mr Clough, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood handed the force a £2million cash injection – but Ms Fuller said this still falls well short of an estimated £26million needed to defeat organised crime in the area.

Officers had been pursuing a Volkswagen Passat going the wrong way for nearly seven minutes before the fatal crash, according to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which is now investigating the incident.

Suspected joyriders Jakub Matusiak and Michael Cahill, both 23, Makai Saddington, 18, and Cole Worthy and Theo Rae, both 17, all also died in the accident, and may have had links to organised crime in the area, police have said.

On Friday, schools closed for the funeral of Mr Matusiak over “safety fears” – police said they were not consulted in the decision.

Cleveland Police was removed from special measures in 2023 – Ms Fuller told The Times the force was arguably the “second most improved” in Britain, but what her 2,463 officer workforce could achieve remains limited without sustained funding.

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She said: “We deal with issues akin to inner-city crime [but] the budget doesn’t match. I don’t want Cleveland to have the highest crime rate.

“We’re robust in our policing style, we’ve been tackling organised crime. But we need the help; we need support on a scale significant enough [to] increase officer numbers.”

The Cleveland Police chief said the force needed to recruit another 270 officers to properly tackle crime.

“These are complex, multi-generational issues that will not be solved by policing alone,” she said. “It won’t be solved overnight — and certainly not with £2 million.”

Middlesbrough has been brought to “its knees” by a wave of crime, including the deaths of Valentina Foster, 7, and her aunt Natalie McDonald, 34, in a fire, an alleged stabbing and a car ramming.

In total, 26 people have been arrested in relation to alleged offences including possession of a firearm and being part of an organised crime group.

Ms Fuller said the days since the deaths of Mr Blades and Mr Clough had been “indescribable”, adding a lot of people were “still processing what happened”.

“When I received the call on August 22… that was absolutely the worst day of my 27 years [in policing] but the workforce has continued with a real resolve,” she added.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We are grateful to Cleveland police, who have delivered a robust response in difficult circumstances.

“We have been in regular contact with Cleveland police and local leaders, ensuring they have the support they need and engaging on their financial concerns.

“This additional £2 million targeted funding will help Cleveland police tackle serious crime. We have also committed to a wider review of the police funding formula to ensure that force funding is fair and responsive to local needs.”