Echo comment: Middlesbrough needs unity to rebuild

On the one hand, there are those who wish to portray Middlesbrough as being on the brink of “carnage”, a place where the permissive society and weak policing has allowed lawlessness to take over.

On the other hand, there are those who wish to blame this all on police cuts and austerity.

There will be time to have all of these relevant debates, but it is not now.

Now is not the time to publicly castigate one group of people as that will only increase the dangerous social undercurrents of division.

Now is the time to give the police full support so they can prevent anymore “senseless” deaths.

Cleveland is a small force and its officers are working on perhaps the most major investigation of their lives while at the same time grieving two of their colleagues who were killed in the line duty.

And then they have to cope with the death of a seven-year-old girl somehow caught up in someone else’s battle.

It does indeed make no sense.

Middlesbrough as a town is going to need enormous strength and support to pull through this.

It needs unity, not politicking on the sidelines.