Thames Valley Chief Constable Peter Neyroud says his force is better off after the recruitment of 400 officers -- but he has been unable to put more bobbies on the beat.

Mr Neyroud took over three years ago, but his senior commander in Oxfordshire, Chief Supt David McWhirter, said the number of officers on the beat had remained fairly stable.

Mr McWhirter said there were increasing demands to put more experienced officers in specialist roles -- such as firearms, criminal intelligence, domestic violence and abuse against children, monitoring paedophiles and investigating Internet child pornography.

It is not yet known if the National Centre for Child Protection on the Internet, which was announced by the Home Office yesterday and will be operational within a year, will free extra officers in Oxfordshire.

The centre will be part of the new Serious Organised Crime Agency and will target paedophiles who use the Internet to groom children for physical abuse.

Dc Colin Steele, a public protection officer based in Oxford, deals with paedophile cases. He said: "I think anything new to help catch paedophiles will be useful, but whether that would free police officers up to do other jobs would be very difficult to say."

Mr McWhirter said: "Demands on the service are increasing -- much of it is not front-line policing but it is extremely important and a response to modern phenomena, such as Internet child pornography."

Thames Valley Police Federation said it was calling for more bobbies rather than Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) -- uniformed officers with limited powers.

Pc Dino Imbimbo, the federation's secretary, said: "We want to make sure the role of neighbourhood police officers is given the appropriate status and the necessary funding."

Oxford residents have backed the federation and said they need more traditional bobbies on the beat.

Mary Hope, of New Headington Residents' Association and Headington Community Development Association, said: "The increase in the number of police in Oxfordshire has not been noticed in terms of seeing officers walking the beat in Headington."