At present, Waverley and Guildford boroughs have 10- 12 neighbourhood officers between them and day-to-day policing means they are often taken away from their community beat roles.
But a merger of the two divisions on January 27 will change the focus of policing and reallocate staff, creating 26 dedicated neighbourhood specialist officers, divided equally between the two boroughs.
Outlining the changes, which are part of the reduction in the number of Surrey police divisions from seven to four, Chief Superintendent Mark Rowley, who will head the new West Surrey division, said: "We aren't going to have extra officers but we're going to be using them more cleverly.
"Officers in cars make very little impact on crime, so we're trying to increase the number of officers on foot. They're going to be beat officers, walking or cycling around, and they will be based at all the existing stations."
Chief Supt Rowley, who presented the plans at Guildford police station last Friday, said they addressed four key targets: reassuring the public at a time when crime is falling but the fear of it is climbing; using more intelligence-led policing to target known offenders and reduce violent crime and drug-related offences; dealing with increasing demands on staff, for example, by being more discriminating in which 999 calls need a police presence through a new crime reporting bureau; and last, he conceded, some of the shake-up is money-driven.
He pointed out that Surrey had gone from being one of the best-funded forces in the South East to one of the worst because of the government's targeting of deprived or rural areas. Surrey falls between these two stools, he said.
"Financial pressures have forced us to make cuts in the past but it gets to the point where you cannot carry on with that and you have to change the way we work."
Giving an assurance that no Surrey police stations will be closed as part of the plans, he said the money saved from improved efficiency will be redirected towards intelligence-led policing.
Chief Supt, Rowley acknowledged that cuts which forced the centralisation of Surrey's control rooms 18 months ago has led to a poor call-handling service.
Under the changes, current Farnham neighbourhood officers Pcs Patrick Webber, Simon Anderson and Richard Pegden will continue their roles but as part of the reorganisation, they will target particular problems like graffiti and abandoned cars, that require co-operation with bodies such as councils.
They will be given mobile phones so they can phone in crime reports, which currently have to be written at the police station.
Although the changes will see other policing by officers in cars, notionally based at the new west Surrey divisional headquarters in Guildford, they will be allocated locations throughout the division on a daily basis. Existing Waverley and Guildford boroughs will continue to exist.
Inspector Andrea Wood, who will head the Waverley borough told The Herald: "Officers will be told to go to a certain area, for example, to Frensham Ponds in response to handbags being stolen from cars, but they will also respond to immediate incidents."
The reorganisation will mean an end to the current area inspector position, but a Surrey police spokesman said there would be no redundancies or demotions.
She said the inspectors will lead the five targeted patrol teams that will respond to 999 calls.
The changes will begin next month with the launch of the NHS Direct-style crime reporting bureau. January 27 will see Waverley and Guildford divisions merge to form the new West Surrey Division.
A new "one-stop" contact centre in Guildford is planned for October next year, and in January 2003, the division will launch a single telephone number.