The chief officer of police of every police force shall, at such times and in such form as the Secretary of State may direct, transmit to the Secretary of State such particulars with respect to offences, offenders, criminal proceedings and the state of crime in the area for which the force is maintained as the Secretary of State may require.

The Secretary of State shall cause a consolidated and classified abstract of the information transmitted to him under this section to be prepared and laid before Parliament.

Any police expenses payable out of the county fund of any county falling partly within the metropolitan police district shall be chargeable only on so much of the county as does not fall within that district, without prejudice, however, to section 67 of the M2London Government Act 1963 (power of rating authority to aggregate like expenses chargeable on different parts of rating area.)

In this section “police expenses” means expenses for police purposes (including contributions to the police fund of a combined police authority) or expenses which are for any purpose treated as incurred for police purposes or are under any enactment payable out of the police fund.

If the chief constable of a police force which ceases to exist in consequence of an order under Part I of this Act or F3, section 58 of the M3Local Government Act 1972 or section 17 of the M4Local Government Act 1992 is not appointed chief constable or other member of the successor force as from the date of transfer, he shall on that date become a member of that force (or, if there is more than one successor force, of such of them as may be provided by or under the order) by virtue of this section.

While a person is a member of a police force by virtue only of this section he shall hold the rank of F4assistantchief constable but shall be treated for the purposes of his pay, pension and other conditions of service as if he had continued to be chief constable of the force which ceased to exist, subject however to section 5(1) of this Act.

A chief constable who becomes a member of a police force by virtue of this section shall, subject to regulations under Part II of this Act, cease to be a member thereof at the expiration of three months unless he has then accepted and taken up an appointment in that force.

If a chief constable was appointed for a term which expires within three months of his becoming a member of a police force by virtue of this section, subsection (3) shall have effect as if the reference to three months were a reference to that term.

The provision to be made by regulations under section 60(2) of the Local Government Act 1958 (as extended by Schedule 9 to this Act) with respect to the chief constable of a police force who, after becoming a member of another police force by virtue of this section, ceases to be a member of that force without having accepted and taken up an appointment therein shall, if he was the chief constable of a police force at the commencement of this Act, be not less favourable than any provision by way of a pension that would have been payable to or in respect of him by virtue of the F6M5Police Pensions Act 1976 had the first-mentioned police force been combined with another force by an amalgamation scheme under the M6Police Act 1946 and he had neither been transferred to the combined force nor joined it within three months.

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In this section “successor force”, in relation to a police force which ceases to exist in consequence of any order, means a force to which members of that police force are transferred by virtue of the order; and “date of transfer” means the date as from which those members are so transferred.