A POLICE commissioner has called for cash seized from criminals to be kept in the local area.

Vera Baird, Northumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), said police forces should be allowed to keep all money and assets seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act locally, rather than them going into a national pot.

She made the comments while welcoming a National Audit Office (NAO) commitment to investigate the confiscation process.

Government bodies collect more than £100m a year through confiscation orders but the amount owed nationally by convicted criminals is more than £1bn, much of which the NAO says is uncollectible.

Ms Baird, who as Redcar MP was on the Parliamentary committee which shaped the Proceeds of Crime Act ten years ago, said: “While I welcome this study looking at how money is confiscated, I strongly believe that it is time to update the law as well.

“Hundreds of thousands of pounds disappear from our area and the communities who have suffered at local criminals’ hands.

“It would be fairer and give officers an extra incentive to fight for more criminal cash through what can be a complex and long court processes to be used if this money stayed in our region.”

Ms Baird urged people to sign a petition in support of her call started by West Yorkshire PCC Mark Burns-Williamson, at epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/52046