Warwickshire Police is cutting back on senior managers in a bid to slash costs, it has announced.
The structure of the police force is being changed in an effort to meet a savings target of £13.4 million within four years.
A spokeswoman said the force and police authority had agreed to reduce the number of senior managers from nine to seven.
From January 2011, the Chief Officer team will reduce by one director post - losing one of two Assistant Chief Constables after one retires. The spokeswoman said the force would also restructure, reducing four directorates to two, losing a Chief Superintendent post.
Chief Constable Keith Bristow said: "We are making our executive leadership and force structure as lean as possible. In doing so, we must ensure that the resilience required to provide strong leadership to the force and protect people from harm remains effective.
"Our determination to ensure that our resources are used as effectively and efficiently as possible, from the top level down, signals the new way forward for our entire service."
The move comes ahead of next month's Comprehensive Spending Review. Despite fears from senior officers, Home Secretary Theresa May has rejected the warning that forces would be unable to cope with rising social and industrial tensions.
Chair of Warwickshire Police Authority Ian Francis said: "We all know now that the challenge of protecting people who live, work or travel in the county will get more difficult this year and for the next two years. National funding for public services has been reduced and will almost certainly be reduced further."
He said the authority was in full agreement that the changes were vital if the force was to continue to deliver "the maximum levels of protection possible within the resources available".
Vaughan Jones, chairman of Warwickshire Police Unison Branch, said the changes faced by the force were "not of anyone's choosing" but they would continue to ensure "the best possible outcomes" were achieved for the public and its members.
