A coalition of police authority leaders and senior officers warns today that the new government's plans for sweeping reform of the service will make the country's streets less safe.

The plans for directly elected commissioners, who will oversee chief constables, are expected to form a centrepiece of Tuesday's Queen's speech to parliament. But in a letter to the Observer, police authority chiefs voice outright hostility to the measures, saying they are "uncosted", "driven by dogma" and "undermined by absence of debate".

Signed by the chairman of the Association of Police Authorities, Rob Garnham, who is also a Tory councillor, the lette r expresses fears that the public "is unaware of the turmoil that may be unleashed by these proposals".

Garnham says there is an inherent danger in introducing a system in which the people running local police services have a "politically motivated agenda": there is a danger that chasing votes may take priority over the pursuit of criminals. The APA is also concerned that individuals with extremist views or personal agendas could seek election as commissioners.

Under the Tory-Liberal Democrat plans, the APA would be replaced with elected individuals who would decide "policing priorities for local communities" and exercise control over forces' budget and strategy.

Several major policing organisations are pushing for crisis talks with the new home secretary, Theresa May.

The decision to press ahead has dismayed Britain's two most senior police officers, Sir Paul Stephenson, head of Scotland Yard, and Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Orde is understood to have raised his opposition directly in a meeting with May last Monday.

Derek Barnett, president of the Police Superintendents' Association, said it was preparing to meet May at the earliest opportunity. "We need to register our concerns," he said. "We will speak to the home secretary to try to reach a pragmatic and sensible approach. We will try to point out some of the tensions that will exist in the real world."

One police source said the policies contained within last week's 34-page programme for government indicated that the new coalition had "no understanding of what policing is about".

The row comes as the government prepares to announce £6bn of savings by identifying waste in state spending, as well as a legislative programme aimed at devolving power over everything from policing to new schools.

Last night there was speculation that the planned cuts for this year, which will include slashing spending on quangos by £513m and a clampdown on civil service and ministerial perks, would go further than merely cutting waste. The cuts will be announced tomorrow.

Unconfirmed reports in Whitehall suggested that student numbers could be cut by 10,000 compared with the planned level from September and that further savings could be made by accelerating plans to cut back the Child Trust Fund.

As well as bills on police reform and allowing schools greater freedom to become academies, the Queen's speech will contain legislation for a referendum on electoral reform and a bill to transfer powers to regulate banks from the Financial Services Authority to the Bank of England.

Orde is understood to have told David Cameron in the runup to the election that there was an urgent case for an independent review of policing, pointing out that the last took place in 1962. However, despite the Tory and Lib Dem announcement that they would create six commissions and 28 reviews to consider contentious areas of policy, policing missed out.

"Is the structure designed in 1962 the best structure for a police force operating in 2010?" Orde asked.

Meanwhile, a new paper from the research director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College, London, warns of a schism between policing and the new government, claiming the coalition is "failing to grasp the nettle" over what the future priorities of policing should be.

Roger Grimshaw found that the parties' manifesto statements on the issue could not be easily reconciled and argued that a wide-ranging debate on policing was crucial.

Concern is also mounting over the extent of cuts facing police forces and the lack of a commitment to increase officer numbers. The key Lib Dem election promise of employing 3,000 more police officers was omitted completely from last week's coalition policy pledge.

In her first major speech as home secretary last Tuesday, May attempted to win over rank-and-file officers by focusing on the need for "commonsense" policing.

• This article was amended on 27 May 2010 to correct Roger Grimshaw's title from director to research director at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College, London.