WILTSHIRE Police needs an extra 11 crash investigators, a force report says.

It came as the Tri-Force collaboration, a department made up of a specialist officers from Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Avon and Somerset police forces, officially ended.

Tri-Force, initially set up in 2014, had been responsible for crash investigation and policing the roads around the three counties. Under the scheme, different forces developed specialisms in particular roles – with Wiltshire notable for its dogs units.

However, the axing of the department means Wiltshire Police must pick up the slack in the county.

And in a report for the joint audit committee of Wiltshire Police and the police and crime commissioner’s office, it was revealed the county force is short by 11 specialist officers in its crash investigation unit.

The report, prepared by Kieran Kilgallen, chief executive in the office of the Wiltshire and Swindon Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “Pre-collaboration, Wiltshire had a notable local crash investigation unit capability.

“However, the force currently secures this service through financial contribution to the regional operating model but in real terms only has two qualified forensic collision investigators.”

Those investigators have been in high demand over the past year, investigating among other incidents the alleged murder of former soldier Kenneth Kiley on Southernwood Drive last July and the death of Honda worker Stephen Speakman on the A419 in November.

Mr Kilgallen said: “Due to the nature and demand of the work, a significant uplift in trained and qualified staff will be required to secure local capability.

“These resources will be drawn from Wiltshire and will likely be taken from other specialist operation units in the short term.”

In practice, it means that traffic officers from the Wiltshire roads policing unit will continue to be responsible for investigating crashes that result in serious injuries.

It is hoped that the full-strength collision investigation team would be up-and-running within the next 12 months. The unit could deal with two incidents at opposite ends of the county simultaneously.

Almost 100 former Tri-Force officers return to the Wiltshire Police fold this week. Last year, police chiefs said they would probably need to recruit an extra 24 officers.

However, according to the new report that figure seems to have risen by nine. The bulk of the additional officers required – four out of the nine – are armed police.

It is likely that many of these officers will be recruited from Wiltshire Police’s current strength.

At Christmas, chief constable Kier Pritchard claimed the end of Tri-Force would not affect his force’s ability to defend the county: “If there is a serious threat across the south west what happens after Tri-Force ends will be the same as what happens today. All of those armed officers will go to try and deal with it.

“Our firearms officers are trained to protect the public whether they are in the collaboration or not.”