Collaboration to strengthen the police’s ability to tackle the most serious types of crime
Drawing on existing personnel from North Yorkshire’s Major Incident Team and Cleveland’s Murder Investigation Team, the combined unit will operate out of two bases (at Middlesbrough and Harrogate) working under a single command.
The Team will take responsibility for investigating offences such as murder, stranger rape, extortion, man-hunts and serial armed robberies. Whilst officers will still primarily work on offences that occur within their patch, having a single team will provide both Forces with the flexibility to pull on specialist personnel from the wider team when necessary. This will help the Team to deal with peaks in demand that are a particular feature of serious cases – especially in the crucial first 72 hours of an incident.
The new collaborative arrangements are expected to go live in November, and will increase the number of skilled specialists dedicated to major investigation work from 47 to 74 across the two Forces.
The new unit will provide more capacity for reviewing cold cases, and a special Major Incident Support Team. This will handle “passive” investigation tasks such as the analysis of digital and paper records, which will free up warranted officers to focus on the frontline investigation.
The decision by PCCs and Chief Constables to proceed with a combined Major Investigation Team is the latest step in the Evolve Programme – a long-term project to look at where collaboration across Force boundaries can improve services, reduce duplication and improve cost efficiency. Plans have been under development for nearly a year, and Senior detectives from both Forces were involved in the creation of the new model.
Commenting on the decision, Julia Mulligan, the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire, said:
“The Evolve Programme is all about improving the service we give to local communities, whilst also getting better value for money. This new arrangement will do just that. The number of people based in Harrogate will not change and the joint team will be headed up by a North Yorkshire officer. Moreover, North Yorkshire will benefit because the joint team will comprise more officers and specialist staff, giving us more resources at our finger tips when we need them. This means people in North Yorkshire can have confidence that this latest collaboration will strengthen the police’s ability to tackle the most serious types of crime.”
Dave Jones, Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police, said:
“We have had a dedicated team in place for some time to deal with major investigations, but working with Cleveland Police will give us the opportunity to build on the solid foundations we already have in place. Major investigations demand a lot of resource – particularly in the early stages of an investigation. When it is launched in November, the Major Investigation Team will give us access to a larger number of experienced, specialist staff to tackle serious and often complex offences, so we can get on with the job of bringing criminals to justice as quickly as possible.”
In addition to the formation of the Major Investigation Team, North Yorkshire Police, Cleveland Police and Durham Constabulary also agreed to the creation of a new post to explore collaboration in the area of legal services and information rights.