The number of police stations open to the public has plummeted in some areas, figures show.
Only a handful of police front counters are open daily in some counties that have populations of more than a million people.
The number has almost halved since 2010, with about 400 counters shutting across England and Wales.
Figures from 31 out of 43 forces, gathered after freedom of information requests by The Mail on Sunday, showed a fall from 901 open counters in 2010 to 510 in March — a decrease of about 44 per cent.
Derbyshire police had the biggest fall, with the number of police stations open to the public down from 25 to four in seven years, to cater for a population of 786,000. Hertfordshire, population nearly 1.2 million, has three fully operational police stations with front counters, compared with ten in 2010. The force’s website shows that there are three stations open to the public daily, two others with a reduced counter service and 15 with no public access.
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A spokesman for the National Police Chiefs Council said: “Police are now far more accessible online and by phone.”
The Home Office said: “Decisions on the operational deployment of resources are rightly a matter for chief constables, in association with police and crime commissioners.”