A new police division will cover half of West Sussex.
West Downs division will be one of the largest in Sussex and stretches from Shoreham to Chichester.
It combines the old Worthing-based Highdown and Chichester-based Western police divisions and is intended to make police more accessible to the public.
Its head, Chief Superintendent Graham Walter, said although it was a large geographical area to cover, it would be broken down into districts, each headed by a district commander with a team of inspectors and sergeants.
Mr Walter said: "It will mean the public will be able to see the police more often and officers will be able to investigate more.
Chichester's new command team will be headed by Chief Inspector John Bishop.
The project has been funded using European Union funding and could see other European police forces working in conjunction with Sussex.
The new policing structure will be phased in by April.
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