Scotland Yard is to lend its name to ranges of clothing, toys and tourist souvenirs as it seeks to fund its frontline policing after years of austerity under successive Conservative-led governments.

The Metropolitan police service wants to follow the example set by forces in the US, such as the New York Police Department (NYPD), which has been selling merchandise for more than 15 years. The Met also expects games, stationery and homeware to be produced as part of a licensing programme announced on Tuesday.

While its image is perhaps not as high profile as its counterpart in New York, the force hopes it will be sufficiently recognisable to provide a useful extra annual revenue stream as forces struggle to deal with dwindling resources.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Caps bearing NYPD logos at a souvenir shop in New York. Photograph: Kyodo News/Kyodo News via Getty Images

Scotland Yard said that, besides frontline policing, any money raised by the licensing project would be used to train staff, as well as buff up the force’s image in the eyes of the public and potentially inspire young people to join.

It will license the use of its logo, the New Scotland Yard sign and the Met’s font and colour palette, as well as imagery of its officers on patrol.

A contract has been signed with branding firm The Point.1888, which has worked with Tate galleries, Leon and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home after a tender process run by Transport for London.

The Met said it was not yet clear how much money it was likely to make each year as a result of the project, which will run until May 2021. The force added that no products that look like Met uniforms would be produced, and Scotland Yard would have to sign off any licensed product made by external companies.

Also on Tuesday, it emerged that police chiefs in England and Wales are threatening to take the government to court over plans to deduct hundreds of millions of pounds from their budgets.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council wrote to the Treasury saying it planned to seek a judicial review of the government’s proposed changes to the amount of money each force will pay into the police pension scheme. The plans will hit the 43 territorial police forces with a £420m bill on top of a 19% cut in police funding since 2010, when the Conservative-led coalition government took office.