http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?sectionid=55&articleid=1333786
Kate O'Hara
"THE Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police last night repeated her preference for all Yorkshire forces to combine to become one 'superforce'. Using the strongest language on the subject yet, Della Cannings said any merger with West Yorkshire Police would effectively be a 'takeover'. The Home Secretary Charles Clarke has offered Yorkshire just two possible options in the event of a force reorganisation -either the merger of West, North, South Yorkshire and Humberside to create one regional superforce, or the creation of two forces, West and North Yorkshire on the one hand, and Humberside and South Yorkshire on the other.
West Yorkshire has already made it clear it would rather go it alone.
But last night Ms Cannings said she believed members of the public needed to be aware that there was a persuasive case indicating that, far from being diminished, the quality of neighbourhood policing would be significantly enhanced by regional amalgamation.
She said: 'Unfortunately the potential success of the mooted merger of the North and West Yorkshire Forces would be severely hindered by the massive contrast between the policing needs of the North and West Yorkshire areas respectively. In plain language, such a merger would effectively be a 'takeover', accompanied by none of the energy and potential for positive change that would be possible if the four forces of the Greater Yorkshire area combined their resources and best practices in a strategic regional amalgamation.'
Ms Cannings also criticised reports in the Press which she said had focused on the estimated cost of any merger.
She spoke out less than a week after the Yorkshire Post revealed that plans to merge Yorkshire police forces could cost £50m without paying for a single officer."
