A CRIME Commissioner candidate for North Yorkshire has warned against using plans to create an elected Mayor to merge police forces.
Philip Allott, Conservative candidate for the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner election in May, is meeting with Policing Minister Kit Malthouse to discuss the issue.
He says that plans to create an elected Mayor for the different Yorkshire Counties known as 'One Yorkshire' should not be used as a grab opportunity to merge North, West, South Yorkshire and even Humberside Police.
He said: “The policing needs of North Yorkshire are totally different to those of large cities like Sheffield and Leeds and nothing must jeopardise this, ultimately policing must always be about providing a local and bespoke service."
Plans to merge the forces were first mooted in 2006 by the then Labour government and Mr Allott does not want them to re-establish under the One Yorkshire idea.
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