SCIENTIFIC investigators for North Yorkshire Police could be employed by West Yorkshire Police from this summer.

The transfer is part of the regionalisation of scientific support services with Yorkshire and the Humber (YATH), and formal consultations with staff - which will lead to a change of contracts - will end next month.

The entire Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) team, which includes 21 senior Crime Scene Investigators and four Crime Scene Investigation Supervisors, will remain located in North Yorkshire going forward, and no redundancies or job losses are planned, but they would be employed by the neighbouring force.

A North Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said there was no cost to the force, but “an immediate saving in the region of £180,000” would be made by the regionalisation of scientific support.

The proposal, made by the Regional Collaboration Board, is part of an ongoing move to share resources which dates back to 2010, and has previously seen staff in NYP’s communications team move to be employed by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Assistant Chief Constable Ken McIntosh of North Yorkshire Police, said the proposed change would save the force money and mean resources could be pulled into North Yorkshire from other regions.

He said: “The key thing here is that, if this proposal is agreed, it will ultimately mean an enhanced level of service to victims and witnesses. It is recognised that by developing a single Regional Tasking function, it will remove artificial borders between force areas in respect of crime scene examination, placing resources in the right place at the right time.

“Although employed by the regional team, NYP’s Crime Scene Investigators will remain here in North Yorkshire, therefore maintaining our CSI footprint locally.

“It is important to stress, however, that this is still a proposal at this stage and that those staff members affected are in formal consultation for a number of weeks.”

Although the force said the change is still a proposal, The Press understands the change will take place this summer, and is not part of the Evolve Programme.

Evolve has already seen North Yorkshire’s dog team merge with Cleveland and Durham Police, and will this year see the Major Crime Team merge with the Cleveland counterpart in a bid to save the forces money.