A police force facing cuts has been criticised for planning to spend £1.6 million on new tablet computers.

Avon and Somerset Police wants 300 Toughbook Tablets to replace personal digital assistants bought in 2006 – some of which later developed faults.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance said there were “serious questions” about whether the spending was justified on kit that might not be used “effectively”.

The devices cost £3,882.68 each and the total cost to the force would be £1,164,804, a BBC Freedom of Information request revealed. Chief Superintendent Gary Davies said the tablets would help officers.

The figures emerged as it was revealed that almost 200 frontline officers were lost from West Country police forces in the first year of the coalition, according to official statistics.

The statistics – showing more than 370 police jobs went in the first 12 months of spending cuts – emerged after a furious Commons row. Prime Minister David Cameron refused to accept the thin blue line had got even thinner since he took power, claiming the proportion of frontline officers was up.

But shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said he was both wrong and out of touch, and accused him of handing London’s Mayor £90million to help his re-election campaign, while cutting all other forces.

House of Commons analysis of data supplied by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary shows Avon and Somerset police lost 67 frontline officers between 2009-10 and 2010-11, and 91 in total.

In Wiltshire, 54 frontline officers were cut, and 82 in total, and the figures for Gloucestershire were 38 and 47.

In Dorset, a total of 34 officers were lost, with 31 of them from the frontline, while Devon and Cornwall shed two frontline officers from a total of 120. In total, 4,162 officers have vanished from frontline jobs in the first 12 months of the four-year cuts programme, with 4,649 police gone in total.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Cameron was asked to confirm that frontline numbers had been cut in 40 of the 43 forces, and insisted the “proportion” was up. But Ms Cooper said the HMIC figures showed 90 per cent of the total police officers lost were from frontline jobs.

“This Government is cutting the police too far and too fast,” she said. “We have continually warned that cutting 20 per cent from the police budget and cutting 16,000 police officers across the country would have a damaging impact on the frontline.

"The Government should switch to our plans for a 12 per cent cut to the police budget so that the number of police officers and frontline services can be protected.

“The PM and the Home Secretary need to set out a plan to cut crime instead of just cutting police officers. Personal crime, including theft, robbery and violence, has gone up by 11 per cent last year – the steepest increase for over a decade.

"This is a terrible time to cut 16,000 police officers. The Tories are out of touch with communities on crime and police safety, and they need to think again.”

Police Minister Nick Herbert said Labour were not being honest, as they were campaigning against cuts, while trying to hide their own plans for making savings.