POLICE forces should be merged into one national unit, a former East Lancashire top cop has said.

Mick Gradwell, a retired detective superintendent, is calling for all 43 constabularies across England and Wales to come together in a bid to battle the effect of the millions of pounds of budget savings they are being forced to make.

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Lancashire Police alone has to find £80 million of ‘savings’.

Mr Gradwell, who was the head of East Lancashire’s major investigation team, said combining all of the country’s forces would help with ‘inefficiencies’.

He said: “There are so many inefficiencies as forces are getting smaller. So many bobbies have gone that it is the equivalent of six or seven forces.

“There is a practical issue that forces tend to do things 43 times in 43 different ways, but each force is just replicating the others’ work.

“It will be very difficult to maintain all the things they do.

“But with a national force, you would reduce centralised issues.”

Mr Gradwell, who retired after 30 years of service, was involved in complex investigations including the murder of Haslingden student Sophie Lancaster.

The former Haslingden High School pupil was attacked by a gang of ‘feral’ teenage boys in Stubbylee Park, Bacup, in August 2007 because she was dressed like a goth.

He said forces should take an example from Police Scotland, which was formed in 2013, merging with the merger of all eight territorial police forces.

The ex-officer said that with a central command centre, Lancashire Police would become a division, similar to what East division, covering Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn, Ribble Valley, Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale, is now. This would reduce the number of chief constables, assistant chief constables and deputy chief constables, Mr Gradwell said.

He said ‘new crimes’ such as cyber crime and terrorism did not have boundaries and so this format would make them easier to tackle.

The former detective, who now runs a consultancy business, said if creating one force was too much, it would also be helpful for the home secretary to consider regional forces, rather than county constabularies as another way of making savings.

He added: “There are false boundaries between Lancashire and Manchester and whilst I am very proud of Lancashire Police, my dad was a bobby and I served the vast majority of my service there, there comes a time when you can learn the lessons of Police Scotland.

“These are very complex issues.

“If I look at the problem with my heart, I would always say that Lancashire Police has to stay, but if I am talking with my brain, I know we are getting to a point where we need one big central force.”