The number of constabularies in England and Wales should be cut to save money, a senior police leader has said.
Police Superintendents' Association president Irene Curtis said there were "too many chief constables and too many police and crime commissioners".
The 43-force structure wasted millions of pounds and had not been reformed for 40 years, she said.
Policing minister Mike Penning said forced mergers would reduce the quality of neighbourhood policing.
Ch Supt Curtis was speaking ahead of the association's annual conference in Warwickshire.
End Quote Ch Supt Irene Curtis Police Superintendants' AssocationWe can't afford not to do this"
The former firearms commanding officer said: "It is increasingly obvious that we do not need 43 forces across England and Wales.
"Some forces are trying to address this by forming strategic alliances which means that they are virtually merging in all but name and senior leadership ranks.
"Current legislation prevents them from reducing the number of chief constables and deputy chief constables, but this is money that could be better spent on operational policing."
Last year Scotland's eight police forces were merged into one - a move the association says will save £1.1bn.
Ch Supt Curtis said people in Scotland had seen no "noticeable difference" in how they were policed locally.
"Local people are still policed by local officers," she said.
And she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that local policing would benefit from a reduction of force numbers.
"It's the local policing that should be at the heart of any new model, so whatever new model is developed for police in the future, I think that it should start from the bottom, with local policing areas, commanded by local inspectors, superintendants.
"What I'm proposing, in terms of reducing the number of forces, will actually release money to reinvest in local policing instead of spending it on the large number of chief officers we currently have."
In England and Wales, the previous Labour government attempted to cut the number of forces by merging some of them, but the high initial costs and concerns about accountability led to the plan being scrapped.
Those proposals could have seen the number of constabularies cut by more than half, the association said.
Labour has since hinted it could revisit the plans.
A review of policing the party commissioned from former Met commissioner Lord Stevens said last year that the current model was "untenable".
But BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw says ministers remain opposed to compulsory mergers, arguing the quality of neighbourhood policing would be hit and forces would become more distant from the communities they serve.
Force collaborationCh Supt Curtis, who will address the conference on Tuesday, said: "Some argue that the cost of restructuring forces would be too high, but in a future of reduced resources I think the opposite is true.
"We can't afford not to do this."
Mr Penning said that the current police reforms were working and that crime was falling overall.
"Chief constables and police and crime commissioners up and down the country are already demonstrating that they can collaborate without sacrificing local accountability and identity," he added.
"Compulsory mergers would reduce, rather than increase, the quality of neighbourhood policing and distance police forces further from the communities they serve."
The Police Superintendants' Association represents senior officers in England Wales.
Its conference runs from Monday 8 September to Wednesday 10 September and will be addressed by Home Secretary Theresa May on Tuesday.
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