KENT police are celebrating remaining independent after escaping a Government proposal to merge the force.

Police chiefs fought to avoid becoming sucked into a south eastern "super force".

Last year a report into the national policing structure proposed to merge forces with less than 4,000 officers.

It concluded forces with more than this number tend to deal better with serious crimes and terrorism.

Kent Police, who faced a possible merger with Sussex or Surrey, fell into the borderline category with 3,630 officers and 2,508 support staff.

Chief Constable Michael Fuller argued the force's track record in dealing with serious crime and border policing justified it remaining as a stand-alone county force.

And last week, after months of developing a case to remain independent, police bosses were told by home secretary Charles Clarke the force would stand alone.

Mr Fuller said: "The Home Secretary has clearly recognised our ability to provide what are termed as protective services, which include dealing with major and organised crime, counter terrorism and roads policing.

"We demonstrated this in recent weeks with our response to the £53m Securitas robbery in Tonbridge.

He added: "We remain committed to working with organisations and individuals across Kent to solve local problems, locally, through our commitment to neighbourhood policing."

Ann Barnes, chairman of the Kent Police Authority, said: "We have always believed this is the right decision for the policing of Kent and we are confident in our strong case for the county to continue to have its own force."

The fate of the county's ambulance service is still unknown after the Government proposed to slash trusts from 31 to 11.

This could lead to a merger between Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

A public consultation into the move ended yesterday and the decision is expected in May.