Police mergers threaten services

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sun 25th Jun 2006

Surrey and Sussex police forces could be merged in expensive plans to re-organise policing in England.

The merger of the two forces could see Surrey policing run from as far away as Brighton. The Association of Chief Police Officers estimates that the cost of the Government's re-organisation could be up to £600million - or the price of 22,000 full-time officers.

Parliamentary Spokesperson Duncan Clark said, "Rather than wasting billions on unwanted schemes such as police mergers and ID cards, the Government should be supporting frontline services. I have written to the Surrey Police Authority objecting to the Governments proposals.

"We are getting gimmicks like these instead of the 10,000 extra bobbies on the beat that the Lib Dems proposed at the last General Election . The Government is clearly out of touch with the needs of local people when it comes to tackling crime."