Police federations in Norfolk and Suffolk say many questions remain over plans to merge the two counties' forces into a single constabulary, and they want to see the detail behind a claimed £22 million in annual savings. It is the first formal word from rank-and-file representatives since the commissioners asked the Home Secretary to approve the merger.

Norfolk commissioner Colin Sutton and Suffolk commissioner Tim Passmore wrote jointly to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood on 29 October, asking for the two constabularies to be combined into one force by 2028. The commissioners said it builds on more than a decade of collaboration and could make the counties a pathfinder for wider police reform. They stressed no decision has yet been made by the Government, as set out in the commissioners' own announcement.

Darren Harris, chair of Suffolk Police Federation, and Andy Symonds, chair of Norfolk Police Federation, said officers, staff and local communities must remain at the heart of any changes. They welcomed exploring a single constabulary but said the announcement was only the start, with significant detail still to be worked through. Around a third of the workforce already works in joint arrangements between the two forces.

The federations said they wanted to understand exactly how the £22 million figure had been calculated and where the savings would come from, and they questioned how a merged force would fit into the Government's wider reform programme, including the proposed National Police Service and regional units such as the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit. They also called the proposed 2028 implementation date ambitious, saying enough time must be allowed to work through the operational, financial and workforce implications. Both federations said they would engage constructively with the commissioners, chief constables and the Government as the proposals develop, according to the federations' statement.