The proposed merger of Devon and Cornwall Police with Dorset Police could result in an extra 400 officers and staff.

That was the key message from the Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer and Assistant Chief Constable Sharon Taylor when they briefed Cornwall councillors this afternoon.

Consultation is currently being undertaken over the plans to merge the two forces. If successful the new force would launch in May 2020.

If it goes ahead the new three counties force would serve a population of around 2.5 million people.

Today it was revealed that if it goes ahead the merger could result in an extra 430 frontline staff across the three counties. This would include an immediate increase of around 100 staff thanks to an extra £3.2million a year being made available through savings.

The 430 staff would come from an increase in council tax made up of an uplift of £18 along with an increase of £12 which is already included in the police budget.

The two forces already work together in a number of areas under a strategic alliance. This already covers 19 different areas of policing and back office functions and another 11 areas are in the process of being set up for joint working.

The areas include road policing, firearms, dogs, drones and prevention. Those set to go live later this year include major crime and intelligence.

ACC Sharon Taylor said: “The only things not in the strategic alliance are local policing. That is local response, local investigations and public protection.”

Yet while the two forces are already working together in those areas it still has to operate as separate organisations.

ACC Taylor said: “What is happening at the moment is ineffectual, we are having to run three organisations – the two forces and the strategic alliance.

“It is so painful and it is inefficient and ineffective. The alliance has been the right thing to do but we are having to have built-in inefficiences as we have to maintain the legal entities of the two organisations.”

One area where the new force will save is in reducing the number of top level appointments. There will be just one chief constable for the larger force and there would only be one elected police and crime commissioner to cover the three counties.

The £3.2m which would be available annually from day one would be funded by these savings which would also include savings from areas such as ICT.

ACC Taylor explained that the merger is being driven by operational reasons and not political.

And while she said that there was a hope that the Home Office would approve the merger at the end of the year it was not a “done deal”.

ACC Taylor said: “It is not a done deal at all. The Home Office have made it very, very clear that unless they see specific support from the public, stakeholders and staff they will not recommend to the minister that it should be supported.

“We want to have a force which is for the next generation. We have a machete in our hands and we are going down a path that nobody has been down before.”

Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez commented on the possibility of additional frontline staff from the merger.

She said: “Although I understand the argument that a new force for Devon, Cornwall and Dorset and the Isles of Scilly would bring operational benefits I am concerned that unless there are tangible benefits that people across Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly really notice in their communities then an opportunity will have been missed.

 “For that reason I won’t support a merger unless the benefits clearly and significantly outweigh the option of maintaining the status quo, and for me that means more police officers and the staff needed to maintain and train them.

 “The immediate release of £3.2m from merger will be reinvested into 100 new people for the frontline. In addition there is a shared aspiration to increase policing capacity to a further 330 for the frontline, and I will be negotiating with the Home Office to this end. There is a commitment to provide 100 people for the frontline in Cornwall.

“If I work with the Chief Constable to significantly increase frontline policing as part of this process, then we will really have achieved something that will sustain a viable and robust police force.”

To complete the survey about the proposed merger of Devon and Cornwall Police with Dorset Police go to www.futurepolicing.co.uk