It is only a few days since West Yorkshire Police announced there was to be a survey of the public to find out if the force was offering ‘value for money’ in its policing.

There will, one suspects, be very few respondents who would suggest that cutting front-line police officers is the best way for West Yorkshire Police to go.

It has now been confirmed that over the next four years there will be 500 fewer police officers, along with 300 civilian post redundancies.

Chief Constable Norman Bettison says in today’s T&A that supporting roles will be reduced to protect front-line policing.

But it is difficult to see how the reduction of the force by 500 officers can have anything but a negative impact on the already over-stretched thin blue line.

This, of course, is how public funding cuts begin to bite, and West Yorkshire Police must be absolutely sure that there is no other way to reduce their costs than to cut front-line policing.

If they are sure in that, then they must go back to the Government and ask for help in streamlining the force without cutting police officer numbers.

The very essence of any police force is to serve and protect the community, and any reduction of that ethos through falling officer ranks will only raise the fears of the populace that their safety and security is under threat.