Yorkshire police forces dog units to merge

Two police forces in Yorkshire are to merge their dog units to reduce costs.

South Yorkshire Police and Humberside Police and are to cut the number of dogs and handlers to a combined total of 25.

The South Yorkshire force will halve the size of its current dog unit, with 12 officers and dogs being lost as part of the restructuring.

The new operation will have two bases in Sheffield and one in Melton, East Yorkshire.

Humberside Police said it currently had 12 dogs and handlers.

South Yorkshire Police said that the move was "required to meet budgetary cuts imposed on the Force's Operational Support Services".

'Valuable role'

In August, the force said it needed to make savings of £59m by 2020, with the potential loss of 1,500 staff.

A spokesman for South Yorkshire Police said: "Police dogs and their handlers provide a range of important roles in helping to keep the public safe.

"Whilst we are reducing the size of the unit in South Yorkshire, by merging with Humberside, it allows us to maintain the same number of officers and dogs and continue to perform a valuable role for the public, yet at the same time we can still meet the savings required due to the unprecedented cuts."

The merger of the dog units is one of a number of cost cutting measures introduced by police across Yorkshire in the last few years.

Two years ago , Humberside Police disbanded its mounted unit, with horses now hired in from other forces when needed.

All four Yorkshire forces now share an underwater search unit.