inspection of each police service's performance. In its latest PEEL inspection, Dorset Police was rated as follows: Controversies In 2006, a Dorset Police officer's use of CS gas against a Wareham gardener left him with permanent scarring. The gas canister was held inches from the man's face for a prolonged period of time. The man's family alleged that he was prevented from seeking medical care in the immediate aftermath of the incident. It was later reported that the man pleaded guilty to interfering with the arrest of another individual when he was sprayed with the incapacitant and was sentenced to two weeks in prison. This sentence was served concurrently with a 3 month prison sentence for three assault by beating offences which the man also admitted and was on bail for at the time of the CS incapacitant incident. In the same year, a man who had previously been sprayed with CS gas by Dorset Police was arrested and forcibly stripped in his own home by Dorset Police officers. In 2011, a Slovakian care worker was unlawfully detained and strip-searched in a Dorset Police station in Bournemouth. In a later settlement, Dorset Police admitted liability, and paid out damages of £4,750. In March 2021, Police Constable Timothy Brehmer, was convicted of manslaughter for the death of his mistress and fellow colleague's wife. Having had a 10 year affair, the altercation in which he is said to have strangled the victim to death took place in a local car park, following her decision to call things off. In 2022 the IOPC made a number of recommendations following the disappearance of Gaia Pope, and the poor way Dorset Police handled the case. Alliances and merger proposals In 2006 the Home Office announced plans to reduce the number of police forces in the UK from 42 to 24. This would have seen Dorset Police merge with Gloucestershire Constabulary, Devon and Cornwall Police, Avon and Somerset Constabulary and Wiltshire Police. The plans were publicly criticised by all the involved forces, stating that it would lead to poor quality service and a reduction in local policing. The merger plans were abandoned in August 2006 by the then Home Secretary, John Reid. Devon and Cornwall Police and Dorset Police announced in December 2013 that their Chief Constables and PCCs were exploring opportunities for greater collaboration; to save costs without reducing service, and share assets, resources, expertise