POLICE forces in the North could merge in an effort to give them more muscle to tackle thugs and vandals, the Government announced yesterday.

Home Secretary David Blunkett signalled in a consultation paper published yesterday that smaller forces lack the resources to tackle anti-social behaviour and cover large-scale events.

The Government will now consider whether to restructure the 43 forces in England and Wales, a move which could focus attention on the North Yorkshire, Cleveland and Durham forces. On average, there are 3,056 officers per force, but North Yorkshire (1,444), Cleveland (1,562) and Durham (1,651) boast, at best, little more than half that number. Northumbria has 3,943 officers.

The Home Office paper, entitled Policing: Building Safer Communities Together, suggests developing larger "strategic" forces, big enough to deal with all the demands of modern policing.

Lord Brian Mackenzie of Framwellgate, a former chief superintendent of Durham Police, said he had long advocated abolishing the Cleveland force and having Stockton and Hartlepool become part of Durham, and Middlesbrough and Langbaurgh part of North Yorkshire.

"Cleveland is an unnatural force, it is just an amalgam of districts," he said. "I think that would be a useful tidying up exercise."

But Durham's Chief Constable Paul Garvin was against the idea. "Durham Constabulary is not a small force," he said. "Out of the 43 forces in England and Wales it sits in the top half in terms of size."

Cleveland Chief Constable Sean Price said he was in favour of collaboration between forces rather than amalgamation. "Forces can work together while maintaining a local force that can meet the needs of local people," he said.

Cleveland Police Authority chairman Ken Walker said: "It is important to have a force equipped to meet the needs of a largely tightly-knit urban community which are very different from the neighbouring, mainly rural forces, in North Yorkshire and Durham."

The document does not mention the forces most likely to be merged but it is the first time the Home Secretary has admitted the move is under consideration.

The Green Paper also proposes making police more accountable by having directly elected members on police authorities and renaming them "police boards".