MERSEYSIDE'S former Chief Constable will mastermind the Government's unpopular plans to merge police forces across the country.
Norman Bettison, who was knighted in Saturday's Queen's birthday honours list, will be in charge of turning round widespread opposition from police and taxpayers.
His difficult task will include overseeing Merseyside and Cheshire's police joining forces, a move described as "the merger no one wants".
But Sir Norman, who pioneered Neighbourhood Policing during his time in Merseyside, pledged to voice police concerns to the Home Office and break the deadlock in negotiations.
He said: "The first priority is making sense of what the obstacles and the barriers are standing in the way and helping the Home Office deal with them.
"Where we go from there is working out what needs to be done to reorganise police forces and doing what we can centrally instead of repeating them.
"I'm not leading it or directing it, but I'll be coordinating things. The job will take a couple of years."
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