Desperate Call for More Police Funding for Town with Highest Crime Rate in Uk

We’re back in Middlesbrough. Our team spent a month here following the A66 crash, which killed seven people, including two police officers, and exposed problems that residents say have been building for years.

We witnessed a community grappling with serious crime and anti-social behaviour, amid concerns about whether the police have the resources to tackle it.

Now, a week on from our report, the row over police funding is intensifying - and we’ve been invited to listen.

At Middlesbrough Town Hall, residents, councillors and the mayor came together to discuss the challenges facing the town.

“Our society is crumbling into crime…I’m a Middlesbrough lad, so are most of you in here and it’s falling apart and it’s crime that’s doing it.”

There was sympathy, too, for the officers caught in the middle.
“I feel sorry for Cleveland Police themselves as they are getting the backlash.”

At Westminster, Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald is challenging the Government over what he says is an unfair distribution of police funding.

“Three of the four most poorly resourced police forces in the country are from the North East of England. That is immoral, it is not fair, and the people of my constituency deserve equitable treatment.”

He says communities cannot be expected to wait indefinitely for change.

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