POLICE chiefs in North Yorkshire have teamed up with neighbouring forces to draw up a masterplan they hope will save hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The region’s most senior officers have launched talks with their counterparts from South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Humberside Police, to analyse how a string of measures, including the potential of introducing a single standard uniform for all four forces, may help them battle the spending squeeze.

Their vehicle fleets, crime scene investigation units and procurement strategies, used to buy services and equipment, are also being studied by the regional policing team for Yorkshire and the Humber.

They already share some services, with North Yorkshire Police using the West Yorkshire force’s’s underwater search unit and police helicopters. Mark Whyman, Deputy Chief Constable for Yorkshire and the Humber, said the new move could hold the key to cutting future costs.

The forces hope this could limit the impact of budget cuts on frontline policing as they wait to discover how hard they will be hit by the recent Comprehensive Spending Review, with their precise Government funding settlements thought to be just days away from being confirmed.

North Yorkshire Police is currently facing annual funding reductions of four per cent over the next four years and is aiming to make £6.2 million in savings during the current financial year.

Mr Whyman said that by pooling intelligence and resources, the four forces could achieve results which would be out of reach if they each worked individually.

He said a collaborative approach would strengthen the chance of smashing criminal networks operating across Yorkshire and the Humber, sometimes cutting across the boundaries of different force areas.

“We are here to disable the criminal network and we are getting a better understanding of that network,” he said.

“We will never have perfect knowledge, but we are getting very, very good and we have a joint team in place to tackle cross-border crime across Yorkshire and the Humber.”

The regional policing group celebrated a huge success earlier this year when the second year of their region-wide Operation Odyssey, targeting cross-border crime, saw the group pass the threshold of £10 million in criminal assets and more than 1,100 arrests.

The four forces already have specialist operational units in place to tackle cross-border crime and develop intelligence on serious and organised crime groups.