Targets for police ‘are making a comeback’

Senior police officers are bringing back targets for their forces in an attempt to shirk responsibility for their decisions, the Home Secretary has warned.
Home Secretary Theresa MayHome Secretary Theresa May
Home Secretary Theresa May

Theresa May told the Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales (PSAEW) annual conference that the Government had cut “useless bureaucracy” to allow police officers to follow their own “crime-fighting policies”.

But Mrs May told some 250 senior operational leaders from across the service that targets were making a comeback in many forces as officers attempted to introduce a “security blanket”.

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Addressing the conference in Warwickshire yesterday, the Home Secretary said: “It’s down to you to decide what crime-fighting policies you’re going to follow.

“And yet I have noticed that targets have been making a comeback in many forces.

“Those targets certainly aren’t coming from me, and they aren’t being used to increase the effectiveness of policing.

“Their main function seems to be to act as a security blanket for senior officers – a way to avoid taking responsibility for the decisions they have to make.

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“I am not saying that most or even many of you have responded in that way. But some of you have. And none of you should.”

The Home Secretary also rejected concerns expressed by PSAEW president Chief Superintendent Irene Curtis that “frontline policing is being cut to dangerously low levels”.

“I don’t think the facts support her view. The proportion of officers on the front line has increased from 89 per cent in March 2010 to 91 per cent in March 2013.”

Earlier Ms Curtis suggested the number of police forces should be cut in a bid to save money as budgets are squeezed. She said the current structure was inefficient and changes were needed to protect neighbourhood policing during the next round of spending cuts in 2015/16.

Yorkshire’s police forces face a budget black hole of around £100 million by 2018.