One in three beat bobbies have been axed in only three years amid a huge surge in violent crime.
Home Office figures reveal that more than 7,000 traditional neighbourhood police officers have been reassigned to other duties or quit since March 2015.
The findings will raise fears in Whitehall that forces are retreating from the front line, and that the days of Dixon Of Dock Green-style bobbies pounding our streets are gone for good.
One in three beat bobbies have been axed in only three years, figures reveal
The news will further harm public faith in the police at a time when officers have come under fire for failing to attend the scene of many crimes.
The fall comes amid spiralling violent crime in ‘Wild West Britain’, as highlighted by the Daily Mail.
Last month the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that police recorded 5.5million offences in the year to March, a rise of 45 per cent compared with 2015. Violent crime in England and Wales has almost doubled from 778,000 offences to 1.4million over the same period, while murders have increased from 539 to 736 and knife offences have soared from 26,065 to 40,147.
Senior officers have insisted that bobbies on the beat, who protect communities and gather intelligence, play a crucial role in solving crime. A more old-fashioned policing policy has seen Durham Constabulary become the best force in the country for achieving justice, with 18 per cent of crimes detected compared with 5 per cent in similar-sized forces.
Analysis of official figures by The Sunday Times found that the number of neighbourhood police officers fell from 23,928 in March 2015 to 16,557 this year, a drop of around a third.
Over the same period, the number of police community support officers, or PCSOs, has declined by around 18 per cent from 12,370 to 10,139.
Police officer numbers have dropped from around 143,700 in March 2010, a few weeks before the Tory-led coalition won power, to 122,400 this March.
Lord Stevens, the former Scotland Yard commissioner, said the figures were ‘incredibly alarming’, adding that public confidence in the police was linked to ‘officers on the street in uniform’.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Sir Ed Davey said: ‘This looks like the death of the traditional beat bobby by stealth.’
The Home Office insists that 92 per cent of officers are ‘front-line’ but they include more than 40,000 in ‘non-visible’ roles such as office-bound intelligence analysts, custody officers and operational support officers and nearly 9,000 in other support roles.
The Government says it has protected overall police budgets in real terms since the 2015 spending review. Despite this, Home Secretary Sajid Javid has acknowledged pressures and pledged to fight for more money.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Forces are changing how they deliver local policing so that they can respond better to the changing nature of crime. They recognise effective community engagement is more than just having a visible police presence.
‘Most have already set out plans to either protect or increase front-line policing this year.’
The forces using PCSOs to investigate burglaries
Police forces are using PCSOs to investigate crimes including burglary and vandalism as they ‘run out’ of fully trained staff.
Senior officers at more than a third of forces are directing the civilian officers to respond to calls for help from the public.
The police and community support officers, who do not have powers of arrest, are expected to pass inquiries on to detectives if they become more complex.
PCSOs, nicknamed ‘plastic policemen’ by their detractors, have been investigating burglaries in the West Midlands, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and Cleveland.
One PCSO published CCTV footage of an intruder caught on camera at a social club in Aldenham, Hertfordshire.
Police forces are now using PCSOs to investigate crimes including burglary and vandalism
In Surrey, a PCSO urged residents to be vigilant after three break-ins at properties in Banstead and Hooley. In Lincolnshire a PCSO asked for help to solve a shed burglary and damage to a nearby fence.
Simon Kempton, of the Police Federation, which represents rank and file police officers, said: ‘This is policing on the cheap. Chief constables are simply running out of properly trained people to send to jobs.’
HM Inspectorate of Constabulary has criticised chief constables for failing to provide adequate training for PCSOs’ expanded responsibilities.
Hertfordshire Police said regular police officers, special constables, civilian investigators and PCSOs ‘all have a valuable role in offering a reassuring presence to the public [and] helping to fight crime and anti-social behaviour’.