North Wales Police have announced a £3.4m scheme for improving the way it deals with serious crime.
It follows the collapse of a plan to merge the four Welsh forces, and includes using officers with firearms training to guard major roads and scan vehicle number plates.
Up to 60 new posts would be created along with a serious crime syndicate and a team to deal with murders.
Chief constable Richard Brunstrom said money was needed to pay for the change.
The North Wales Police Authority will now be seeking the support of MPs and AMs to pressure on the Home Office and the Welsh Assembly Government to come up with the additional funding.
But there could have to be a council tax rise of 16% in one year to finance the plan.
Chief constable Richard Brunstrom said it was the "formal start of the process to sort out the chaos caused by the Home Office" when the merger proposals for many forces in both Wales and England were still on the table.
The merger idea followed a September 2005 report by the Inspectorate of Constabulary which described police structure as no longer "fit for purpose".
It said smaller forces were not best placed to meet the challenges of 21st Century policing such as terrorism and cross-border crime.
Former Home Secretary Charles Clarke had said a single force for Wales was the "only one acceptable option".
Opponents of the merger plans said they were under-funded, would be expensive and an all-Wales force would divert resources from neighbourhood policing and the plans were shelved earlier this month.
Mr Brunstrom said changes were needed because of the shift in how criminals operated.
"Substantial criminal networks are underpinned by sophisticated financial networks, often managed by ostensibly legitimate accountants and solicitors," said the chief constable.
"The ability to penetrate such elaborate financial infrastructures, often involving international components, requires the assistance of specialist investigators supported by high grade actuarial and legal advice," he added.
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