If you were asked whether or not you were happy with the service provided by our national police force and whether or not you felt there were enough policemen on the beat the chances are that you would answer both questions in the negative. We know how difficult it is to obtain a quick and effective  response  when we report a crime and, as far as policemen on the beat are concerned, when did you last see a bobby walking down your local high street? And I mean a proper one, not one of those lightly-trained-with-limited-powers-and-usually-slightly-overweight police community support officers.

So I imagine you were somewhat surprised and disappointed this week to read of plans to get rid of 6,000 front line police officers and close down hundreds of police stations over the next three years.  On top of this a further 25,000 or so non-front line officers and civilian support staff will also be axed in an effort to save £2.4 billion on the police budget by 2015. When asked to explain these cuts a Government spokesmen sought to reassure us that the overall quality of policing would remain and we would be as safe as we ever were. Putting aside the question as to whether or not you felt safe in the first place it’s tempting to ask why all those policemen and support staff are currently in employment if their loss will make no overall difference to the quality of policing.

The answer is that there are too many bureaucrats in the Police (as there are in the NHS, Education, Defence and virtually any other Government ministry and department you may wish to name) and anything that leads to less bureaucracy and form filling has to be a good thing. However, in a country where crime is still on the increase and where we remain at risk from the threat of worldwide terrorism, shouldn’t we actually be increasing the number of police on the front line?