Police must not force merger bid

Yorkshire's chief constables accept this. They're already working together over the procurement of new IT contracts and training, for example, to minimise costs.

And they've already taken steps to pool resources over traffic police – a common sense move which takes account of the fact that criminals pay absolutely no attention to artificial force boundaries.

Likewise, there's a case to be made for certain aspects of CID work – such as fraud or counter-terrorism operations – to be regionalised. These require specialist staff and are, again, issues which transcend Yorkshire's four force areas.

However, this efficiency drive should not be used as an excuse to accelerate any lingering plans to create one "super-force" for the whole of Yorkshire.

Charles Clarke, a politician not renowned for his pragmatism, had to withdraw this plan when he was Home Secretary. Even he could not justify the merger plan to the law-abiding public. And, for once, this Government listened to the people.

For, while certain problems may be the same in every community, such as youth crime and the scourge of drugs, the appropriate response is not necessarily uniform.

Tackling anti-social behaviour in rural North Yorkshire might simply merit a local officer speaking to the parents of the youth concerned – good old-fashioned policing – while problems on an inner-city estate might demand a response that involves countless agencies.

These subtle differences need to be understood, and valued, as police chiefs prepare for the almost inevitable diminution of their budgets. Of course, the geography of Yorkshire means the four forces should co-operate wherever possible – particularly if this minimises the amount of money that is spent on "back office" functions.

But, in doing so, the chief constables need to recognise that each constabulary faces unique challenges, and their priority, even now, has to be maintaining – or even increasing – the number of frontline police officers who are available to respond to the public's needs.