Police insist no merger planned for local forces

The chief constables of the four police forces – West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, North Yorkshire and Humberside – have agreed to create a cross-border detective squad, supported by a region-wide "confidential unit" and witness protection programme.

West Yorkshire Police's chief constable, Sir Norman Bettison, said that by working together the forces would make the region better prepared to catch major criminals while keeping neighbourhood policing at current levels.

"Our regional strategy begins with a statement that we envisage the local forces to be the point of delivery of local policing for the foreseeable future," he said.

"Against that opening gambit, there are things that can be done better if we work collaboratively and collectively rather than in a separate and diluted fashion.

"One of these areas is policing of organised criminality, and our first move was to create a roads policing unit that polices the major roads that link our cities because we have travelling criminals. We are building on it now with a covert organised crime unit.

"This isn't a back-door step towards merging the police forces, but a very visible means of protecting the public in Yorkshire and the Humber from the serious risks and harms of organised criminality.

A report published this week by the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee concluded police forces may have to consider merging to save money and maintain front-line officer numbers.

But Sir Norman said the Yorkshire forces would remain independent and instead look to save money by modernising their "back office" functions.