THE post for Scotland's first single police chief could be advertised as early as May and three men and a woman have emerged as the favourites for the top post.

Stephen House, chief constable of Strathclyde Police, Justine Curran, chief constable of Tayside Police, John Vine, a former chief constable of Tayside and current chief inspector of the UK Border Agency, and Sir Hugh Orde, president of Acpo, are the leading candidates.

The post would be the second biggest in UK policing after the Met commissioner's role and is set to offer a salary of more than £200,000. The winning candidate would oversee a budget of £1.4 billion a year and have more than 17,000 police officers and 7000 staff at their disposal.

Ministers had said the post would not be filled until December but this week suggested it could be much earlier.

The Scottish Police Federation and Association of Scottish Police Superintendents want the new chief in as early as possible to ensure the service begins smoothly on April 1, 2013.

The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Bill is currently going through the Scottish Parliament. It is hoped that Stage 2 will be completed in May and Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill suggested that the post could at least be advertised at that stage.

Mr House is thought to be the frontrunner for the job. Both he and Sir Hugh narrowly missed out on the Met commissioner post to Bernard Hogan-Howe.

Others who might apply include David Strang, chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police and George Graham from Northern Constabulary.