One chief constable could run region, says crime commissioner

Bill Longmore said he was open to the idea of having one senior officer to lead both forces.

But he said there are no plans "at present" to officially merge West Mercia and Warwickshire into a single force.

The two forces - West Mercia covers Shropshire - have effectively merged in all but name.

All staff below the rank of deputy chief constable are shared and the budgets are pooled.

The forces retain their own identity for neighbourhood policing but share everything else.

Despite this, West Mercia and Warwickshire both still has its own senior leadership teams because the law requires each to have a chief constable on a six-figure salary.

Keith Vaz, the Labour MP who heads the Parliamentary Home Affairs Committee, has criticised the arrangement as a waste of taxpayers' money, saying the senior leadership teams should be merged.

He has called for a change to the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 so that it would be possible to appoint just one leader in forces sharing a high number of services.

Today West Mercia's crime commissioner, Bill Longmore, said he supported Mr Vaz, but said talk of a full-on merger was premature.

He said: "There are no plans at present to merge the two forces.

"However, shared leadership is subject to ongoing discussion.

"The alliance enables us to achieve huge savings across both forces, while continuing to deliver the best possible protection for local communities."

West Mercia Police's chief constable, David Shaw, has already gone on record to say a single chief constable overseeing both forces would be the best option in the long run.

Both West Mercia and Warwickshire currently have a chief constable, both earning more than £130,000 a year.

Tom Winsor, HM chief inspector of constabulary, said last month that the policing landscape in England and Wales, which has 43 separate forces, would have to change to accommodate future budget cuts.

Forces across the country are increasingly collaborating to save money and the issue is likely to become more acute over the next few years, with an increasing number of mergers anticipated.

Other collaborations include Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire forces, which share a single armed-response unit. Hampshire and Thames Valley have merged or partly merged departments, including IT.