THE new Chief Constable of Dyfed-Powys Police has made waves by suggesting that Wales’ four police forces should be scrapped and replaced with a single nationwide service.

Dr Richard Lewis, who had served as the Chief Constable in Cleveland since April 2019 before joining Dyfed-Powys late last year to replace the retiring Mark Collins, has said that a unified force should be in place by 2030 and would create a “more effective” service.

Carmarthenshire-born Dr Lewis said: “Doing away with those borders means we can provide a more effective service.

“One chief constable rather than four. One deputy chief constable. Dare I say one commissioner instead of four.”

Merging the four forces - including Dyfed-Powys and North Wales police into Heddlu Cymru - would see it become the third largest force in England and Wales, behind the Metropolitan Police and West Midlands Police.

A merger would create a service with more than 7,400 police officers, according to Home Office figures.

Dr Lewis denied the idea of combining the police would be cuts driven.

“What policing needs across the country is further investment,” he said.

“We’ve seen the government uplift figure of 20,000 officers. I’d like to see something similar for police staff members as well.”

While he said he recognised concerns that resources could be concentrated on towns and cities under one force, he believed that could be dealt with by creating “shadow structures” to ensure officers working in rural areas remained there.

A similar all-country police force was established in Scotland following a merger of its eight regional forces in 2013.

“Police Scotland had a difficult start but I think they’re now seeing the benefits of having one national service in Scotland,” Dr Lewis added.

“We can learn the lessons, of course, from those early days in Scotland, creating national structures in the IT world et cetera.

“My concern is around the way we structure our policing services in Wales.

“I understand not everybody will be of the same opinion, but Lord Thomas’ report on Justice in Wales, suggested a number of changes that have now been seen, such as a national policing board for Wales.

“National structures do exist.

“What I’m proposing is a development of those things.”

He admitted if there was a unified force, devolution of policing “may be easier to achieve”, but said that that was a “political matter.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “The existing police force structure in Wales ensures everyone has a direct say on policing in their area through their locally elected and accountable police and crime commissioner.

“Chief constables and police and crime commissioners collaborate with other forces on a wide range of functions to improve the service they provide to the public.”