Devon and Cornwall Police are removing 150 neighbourhood officers from their beats in the South West.
The proposal has been put forward to meet government targets for fighting serious and organised crime.
Officers will be redeployed to fields such as detective work, and remaining officers will cover larger areas.
A Devon and Cornwall Police statement said neighbourhood policing would be boosted with the recruitment of 180 community support officers this year.
The force has received several big increases in spending to fund more community support officers.
But Roy Farmer of the Police Federation said they could not replace police officers.
"They are not equipped to do a police officer's role.
"They don't have the full training that a police officer has over two years, and then on and on through his career."
Devon and Cornwall Police would not comment on the proposal but said community support officers were proving a success by tackling anti-social behaviour, low-level crime and reducing the fear of crime.
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