Police forces would face "Armageddon" if ministers imposed funding cuts as high as 40%, a chief constable has said.
Julie Spence, head of Cambridgeshire Police, said police could be reduced to a "999 emergency service" if such a level of cuts was pushed through.
She was speaking as she prepared to retire after five years as Cambridgeshire's chief constable and 32 years as a police officer.
"If the Government pushed through 40% cuts, there would be a drastic reduction in service. There is no other way you could do it," said Mrs Spence, 55.
"It would be Armageddon. The police service you see today would not be the police service you would see in the future.
"It could even be retrenched to a 999 emergency service. That is not what a modern police service should be and not what society wants."
She said Government departments had been warned to prepare for 40% cuts in a worst-case scenario and added that coping with cuts would be the biggest challenge forces had faced during the past three decades.
