THE prospect of a single police force for the North-East moved closer last night, placing a question mark over hundreds of civilian jobs.

Durham Chief Constable Paul Garvin broke his silence to make it clear that, in his view, only a North-East-wide force would have the capacity and capability to meet modern policing demands.

But Mr Garvin admitted such an option, embracing the Durham, Cleveland and Northumbria forces, would mean a single headquarters and a slimming down of the present structure, sparking fears over police support staff jobs.

His comments provoked alarm at Cleveland Police, which said it would fight to retain its Ladgate Lane HQ, in Middlesbrough.

Mr Garvin said of the single force option: "In my view, this represents the best professional and operational structure. Furthermore, it is the only option that fulfils all of the Home Secretary's criteria for change.

"If you said to the general public, we have three police HQs, three personnel departments, three finance departments, three organised crime teams and three road traffic departments, all within the space of 35 miles of each other, they would think we were barking mad. With a single police force like this, we can free up some of our resources to reinvest back into operational policing."

Mr Garvin, who steps down in December, said Durham hoped a North-East wide force could be in place by April 2007.

He added: "There will be some redeployment issues, but we are very keen that we don't lose the skills and expertise of our police staff."

A source within Cleveland Police said: "The problem with all of this is that you cannot just push a button and have a North-East force.

"There is bound to be a lot of upheaval and jobs will go - not frontline police staff, that would be too political, but almost certainly many administrative staff."