Hayley MaceThe possible merging of police forces in Norfolk and Suffolk is back in the spotlight after one of the country's most senior policemen called for the amalgamation of services to save money.Hayley Mace

The possible merging of police forces in Norfolk and Suffolk is back in the spotlight after one of the country's most senior policemen called for the amalgamation of services to save money.

Suffolk Police Authority is set to discuss the possibility of the county's force working more closely with others in the region when its board meets on Friday, which has reignited debate about the potential for more collaboration between Norfolk and Suffolk in the future.

Yesterday, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Sir Hugh Orde, added to the debate as he called for the merging of police forces to reduce costs at a time when police are facing serious budget cuts.

Suffolk police turned down an approach by Norfolk to merge forces in May this year, claiming there was no evidence that estimated savings of �43m could be produced, but Suffolk Police Authority is now considering collaborating with other forces to combat organised crime, terrorism and public order offences.

Norfolk Police Federation chairman Malcolm Sneesby said: 'Some local collaboration, no doubt, makes sense, but I'm not sure how far that can go before it becomes amalgamation under a different name.

'If the government wants to go down the route of mergers and amalgamation, they have to look at it properly and plan it and accept that in the early days it will cost a lot.'

The two forces already share a major incident team and witness protection unit. If the new proposals are approved, the collaboration could be extended to include other services including technical support, an undercover unit and a regional investigation team, to be rolled out between 2010 and 2012.

No one at Norfolk Police Authority was available for comment.