Police Act 1946
6. c. 46) was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that provided for the amalgamation of smaller borough police forces with county constabularies in England and Wales, allowed for the merger of county forces in certain circumstances, and changed the boundaries of the Metropolitan Police District.On that date forty-five non-county borough police forces were merged with those of the counties in which they were situated.[1] Following the 1947 mergers there were 133 police forces covering England and Wales:[2] Section 3 of the Act allowed for the voluntary amalgamation of county and county borough forces, while Section 4 gave the Home Secretary the power to make amalgamation schemes of constabularies.Section 16 provided for the "rectification" of the Metropolitan Police District, realigning it with contemporary local government boundaries.Section 18 placed the Isles of Scilly under the Cornwall County Constabulary The Home Secretary's powers under Section 4 of the Act were used on a number of occasions: