Frontline police to be cut by 5,800 Almost 6,000 fewer officers will be on the policing frontline in three years' time as a result of the Government's budget cuts, figures showed today. A fifth of front counters in police stations will also close, the report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) found. There will be 5,800 fewer frontline officers, but the proportion of officers on the frontline will increase to between 81% and 95% as the number of non-frontline officers is almost halved, with 7,600 going by 2015, the report said. Some 137 police access counters, such as in libraries and supermarkets, will also open to help offset the closure of 264 front desks. The figures do not include those for Britain's biggest force, the Metropolitan Police, or for Cheshire, as they have not yet produced their plans. In the last year, the overall police workforce has been reduced by 17,600 officers and staff, more than half of the total reductions planned by March 2015, the inspectorate added. The Met was named as one of three forces which may not be able to provide an efficient or effective service for the public in the future. "In our professional judgment (and having considered local context, including police cost to the taxpayer), there is a risk that three forces may not be able to provide a sufficiently efficient or effective service for the public in the future," the inspectorate's report said. These were Lincolnshire and Devon & Cornwall, as well as the Met, the HMIC said.