We must create our own FBI, says Priti
DOZENS of people were injured after a double-decker bus overturned on a country road yesterday.
Up to eight were seriously hurt during the incident on the A385 between Totnes and Paignton in south Devon.
Emergency services were called after the Stagecoach Southwest vehicle crashed at around 11am.they found the bus on its side in a field with passengers trapped HOME Secretary Priti Patel wants to create a British version of the FBI to tackle organised crime.
The plans have emerged as the Tory Cabinet Minister tours the US, with an itinerary which includes a top-level meeting with President Donald Trump’s attorney generalwilliam Barr.
She also hopes to visit the FBI’S headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to see how it operates.
A source close to Ms Patel, 47, said: “She wants to put the National Crime Agency on a new footing, to make it a British version of the FBI.”
The Home Secretary’s tough approach to tackling crime has been welcomed in many quarters.
She received a standing ovation during her Tory Party conference speech last week, when she told criminals “we are coming after you”.
The Home Secretary has not hidden her disdain for her predecessors Amber Rudd and Theresa May, who she believes were not tough enough on crime and too politically correct.
Ms Patel has ordered a reorganisation behind the scenes, including scrapping £200million strategy units. She has also made it clear inside the wreckage. Police said the South Western Ambulance Service had declared the collision a “major incident”. One witness said some casualties were too injured to move.
A spokesman for Stagecoach Southwest said: “Our immediate thoughts are for those involved and we are helping the that she intends to bring a new culture to the Home Office and crack down on crime with tougher sentencing.
The Home Secretary is also “leaning into other departments”, particularly the Ministry of Justice, where she is piling pressure to ensure there are longer sentences for criminals.
She wants the Justice Department to abandon plans drawn up by the previous Justice Secretary David Gauke, who has been ejected from the party over Brexit, to scrap sentences of less emergency services in any way that we can. “Safety is our absolute priority and we will be assisting the investigation into the circumstances involved in the incident.”
The A385 remained closed for some hours after the incident.
Devon and Cornwall police said: “We can confirm that the driver of the bus has not been arrested. But he is helping with our investigations.” than a year. A source close to her said: “There can be no more sob stories to avoid prison or slaps on the wrist.”
This follows admissions by the Home Office that people can repeat the same crime more than 20 or 30 times before receiving a custodial sentence instead of a warning or community service.
Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley in West Yorkshire, has led the way with a “prison works” campaign to reverse the rise of soft-touch sentencing.
And Ms Patel has made it clear she will ensure there are enough prison places to lock up more people.
She also wants to give police the tools and support they need to take on criminals, including tougher stop-and-search powers.
Sources close to Ms Patel have made it clear she will not shy away from sacking the chief constables of failing forces and stepping in if they do not deliver for their communities.
She is understood to want senior officers to join bobbies on the beat and the frontline so they understand the needs of the communities they serve.
The Home Secretary is also said to be considering providing police officers with extra weaponry amid revelations that the number of them carrying Tasers is being increased.
In another departure from Mrs May’s reign at the Home Office, Ms Patel has received praise for her determination to bring in new tough immigration rules, focused on a points-based system.
She has vowed to “end the free movement of people” which is one of the EU’S basic tenets, and which Labour has vowed to continue.
Her move will mean immigrants are allowed in based on economic and work need, rather than as an automatic right.