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The North East Air Support Unit was the main aerial support for police forces in north east England. It has since been replaced by the National Police Air Service, which provides borderless police aviation support across England and Wales. [1]
The North East Air Support Unit was formed in 1995 by joint venture of Cleveland, Durham and Northumbria police forces. Before this, Durham and Cleveland contracted in Air support from Northumbria.
In 2007, the Northumbria and Durham forces proposed reducing the size of the unit to one aircraft, to be based at Newcastle. Cleveland vetoed this move, and as a result Northumbria and Durham announced their intention to withdraw from the consortium with effect from 1 April 2009.
On 1 April 2009, a new North East Air Support Unit was formed serving the Durham and Northumbria forces using an aircraft to be based at Newcastle Airport. The Cleveland Air Operations Unit was established on that date serving Cleveland Police.
The North East Air Support Unit had one helicopter:
The unit's former fleet included:
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