Marching to a different beat?

Victoria Police Commissioner Ken Lay has announced a plan to substantially reduce the number of 'beat' police stationed throughout the state. Instead, he envisions more reliance on Regional 'Task Forces' to provide coverage of all the skill areas encompassed by modern policing. This flies in the face of a current campaign by the police association to question the whereabouts of 1700 extra members promised by the government to cover an extant manpower short-fall.

Seems to me, Mr. Lay's idea would render the police more re-active than ever. Whilst nobody seriously expects to have a 'cop on every corner', I've always thought  one of the basic pillars of general law enforcement (and perceived public safety in particular) was to have police presence as visible as practically possible in public areas. Whilst the new concept may decentralize technical skills availability to the regions ... it still sounds like a 'fortress' policy totally at odds with the pro-active element of 'being seen... to be believed'?