THE funding problems for Dorset Police continue, as they do for the rest of the public sector.

So much so, that if the cuts continue beyond another four years, police commissioner Martyn Underhill and chief constable Debbie Simpson will look at what they describe as “a strategic alliance” with another force.

This might be no bad thing.

Combined forces have worked successfully elsewhere, Devon and Cornwall and Thames Valley for instance. And as with local authorities of which there are clearly too many, sustainable and radical solutions are needed for the long term.