Sir Peter Fahy offers frightening glimpse of policing under more cuts

A Chief Constable offers a reassuring voice of authority in a time of crisis. But many of the leaders of Britain’s police forces feel that now is the time to speak out about the potential impact of cuts on the frontline.

• Read more: Police warn: 'There just isn't enough of us to cope'

Sir Peter Fahy, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, issued a frightening warning about how his force might have to deal with future cuts, which could total £40 million in the next year.

If the comparison with firefighters wasn’t startling enough, he suggested that police officers in the future, more tightly constrained to their offices, might look like call-centre bankers.

Senior police officers have warned about the impact of cuts many times before. But few have offered such a vivid picture of how policing in the future might look.

But the Home Office says it’s up to Chief Constables like Sir Peter to make policing work with much tighter budgets. And they point out that crime has fallen significantly over the last five years.

When politicians are accused of compromising the form of policing crafted by Sir Robert Peel, they might point to his ninth principle:

“The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder”