Police visibility shockingly low as up to 60% say they haven’t seen an officer on patrol in over a year

BEAT bobbies are now almost extinct in some police forces, shock figures revealed yesterday.

In five counties half of locals say they have not seen a patrol cop in more than a year.

The figure was as high as 60 per cent in one area.

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Government cuts have forced chief constables to ditch more than 17,000 officers in six years. But campaigners say beat bobbies are still vital to reassure the public.

The new figures were revealed by social network Nextdoor, which aims to bring neighbours together to fight crime. The firm’s Max Chambers, former policing adviser to ex-PM David Cameron, said budget cuts had led to “policing wastelands”.

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A poll in September found 36 per cent of people had not seen a bobby for a year. Yet the latest figures show the problem is much worse in some areas. In Bedfordshire 60 per cent had not seen a beat officer in the past year.

The figure was 52 per cent in Norfolk, 51 for Wiltshire and 50 per cent for Avon and Somerset and Cambridgeshire.

Five more forces (Gloucs, Lincs, Essex, Devon and Cornwall and Kent) reported between 47 and 48 per cent. The numbers were in data of 26,000 people surveyed for HM’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.

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Mr Chambers said: “Finding savings in police budgets was necessary, but funding is distributed so unfairly that the cuts have effectively created policing wastelands.”

Up to 117,000 towns in the US, where forces are spread more thinly, have turned to Nextdoor.

It links neighbours online so crimes can be highlighted. The network launched in the UK three months ago and is in talks with Crime Commissioners about forging links between cops and the public online.