AN initiative aimed at helping police officers investigate suspicious fires has been launched.

The four-day course on Teesside brought together CID, scenes of crime and Fire Brigade officers in a partnership project.

The project is led by Detective Constable Graham Thompson, a member of Cleveland's joint Police and Fire Brigade Arson Investigation Unit, and aims to foster partnership and knowledge sharing.

Det Con Thompson has drawn, in part, on his experiences from training sessions he attended in the US.

He was the first police officer from the UK to attend a specialist course at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centre, in Georgia, following an invitation from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The first Cleveland course, held at the Fire Brigade Training Centre, in South Bank, near Middlesbrough, included practical scenarios and talks from experts, including a Home Office pathologist and forensic scientist.

Det Con Thompson said it was the first time such partnership working had been set up between the two emergency services in the area.

"We have had several different scenarios, including three car fires and a caravan fire to show what forensic evidence can be recovered from such scenes," he said.

"It can only help with our investigations, which is good news for us, and at the end of the day, bad news for the criminals."

More courses are planned for later in the year.