The Surveillance and OSU teams have access to 21 vehicles of various makes and models.
However, due to the nature of the role, these vehicles can become compromised
Due to budget cuts, fleet replacement has reduced significantly since 2011. This has resulted in OCU and surveillance having less frequent turnover of vehicles. Reduced budgets also affect the makes and models available to them.
Officers throughout Cleveland seize and recover vehicles for a variety of reasons. However, there are limited circumstances, in which the vehicle can be re-branded and re-used for police purposes.
It is proposed that rather than sending vehicles to auction, OCU, fleet and legal services should assess the suitability of vehicles.
If vehicles are suitable, then a decision will be made to either re-brand the vehicle (allocate a new vehicle registration number or re-brand it so the vehicle is a different colour, etc)
Suitable, seized vehicles can then be used by surveillance and OCU to reduce the need to buy replacement vehicles.
Decision 9 – 2015. Use of seized vehicles for OCU or Surveillance (application, 359kB)