Police to ignore Government targets
Updated on 31 May 2008
A leading police chief has announced his force will abandon "misleading" Whitehall targets.
Acting chief constable Mark Rowley of Surrey Police said he wanted to return to "common sense policing", in a move apparently backed by three other constabularies.
He said his force - currently joint top of the national league tables - would slide down the rankings as a result.
Mr Rowley said: "Quite simply, local people's safety, confidence in police and their satisfaction when they call us for help are more important than misleading targets," he said.
"We will get fewer ticks in boxes for bringing offenders to justice - but those figures include issuing penalty notices and cautions when it has not always been sensible to do so.
"Do we really want every teenager who does something stupid to get a criminal record?"
The Staffordshire, Leicestershire and the West Midlands constabularies are reportedly set to follow suit.
The news comes after claims that police are targeting law-abiding people for minor misdemeanours because it makes it easier to meet government targets.
A pamphlet from right-wing think-tank Civitas said the police risked alienating the public by concentrating on "easy-to-deal-with offending".
The booklet claimed: "Not only do the police seem intent on criminalising those whose offences, if they can be regarded as offences at all, are trivial.
"They are accused of concentrating on easy-to-deal with offending like speeding, while the real criminals seem to be getting away with it."
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