One in three bobbies on the beat in England and Wales have been axed in just three years as violent crime has surged.

A Sunday Times investigation found more than 7,000 traditional neighbourhood police officers, who protect communities and gather intelligence, have been reassigned to other duties or left jobs altogether since March 2015.

The number of police community support officers (PCSOs) has also fallen by 18% over the same time period to just over 10,000. Officers assigned to back-office and administrative roles have multiplied by a quarter in three years, despite ministers’ pledges to protect “frontline” policing.

While figures from the official crime survey are flat, recorded violent crime in England and Wales has almost doubled, from 778,000 offences in 2015 to almost 1.4m