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Police 'handcuffed to rulebook' need to be set free says Tsar
Police officers should be allowed to use common sense and discretion when handling minor crimes, the Government's red tape Tsar has urged.
Officers who are "handcuffed to the rulebook" should be set free from official diktats and left to exercise their professional judgment, the Home Office-commissioned report by Jane Berry concluded.
Former Police Federation chairman Ms Berry highlighted slow progress in efforts to cut red tape and warned sticking to rules and systems had become more important than getting results.
"People join the police to do the right thing and make a positive difference, but somehow the system manages to put obstacles and hurdles in their way," she said. "You cannot write rules for every situation. Officers need to gain experience applying common sense and professional judgment, rather than burdening them with reams of rigid rules."
The report – Bureaucracy in Policing – was published yesterday as Ministers outlined a new blueprint for reforms to policing and plans to save hundreds of millions of pounds from force budgets.
The measures intended to save 545m a year by 2014 include reducing the police helicopter fleet by a fifth while forces will be required to cut overtime by 70m a year within four years. Forensic work and procurement will also be pooled.
There will be report cards so that the public can see how the police are performing, and residents be able to say more about the use of CCTV in their areas. There will also be changes to allow the Independent Police Complaints Commission to uphold complaints even when individual officers are not found to be fault.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson denied the efficiency drive would "dilute" the Government's crime fighting agenda.
"Cuts don't come in to this. Record levels of funding for this year and next year are guaranteed," he said. "Our absolute priority is to maintain frontline policing numbers. We didn't get to this level of 16,000 more police officers and the introduction of PCSOs for the first time only to see that evaporate."
Policing Minister David Hanson said: "We are committed to freeing up police time to concentrate on the things that matter most to people in the community – cutting crime, tackling antisocial behaviour and increasing the confidence that people have in the police to deal with local priorities.
"We have already introduced a range of measures to ensure that happens, including drastically reducing data burdens on forces, focusing on just one national target for the police and investing in frontline delivery with record numbers of police officers and community support officers.
"Jan Berry's report sets out a clear challenge for both the Government and the Police Service to make the most of these measures and to be yet more innovative in finding new ways to help achieve our common aim."
But the centre-left think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research said the proposals in the White Paper were "timid and unimaginative" and a "huge missed opportunity".
A spokesman said "radical reform" was needed to make the police more efficient and avoid cuts to the front line.
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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