Crime reduction to replace targets

All targets and the Policing Pledge will be scrapped and the police’s role will be to simply reduce crime and anti-social behaviour, the Home Secretary announced this week.

Addressing the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and Association of Police Authorities (APA) annual conference on Tuesday (June 29), Theresa May confirmed plans to eliminate all targets from central government as chief officers will be held to account in future by directly-elected individuals at a force level.

Ms May suggested the changes being proposed would improve the operational independence of chief officers; despite this many concerns were raised. The concept of directly elected commissioners has been viewed in a negative light by virtually all in the police service, while renewed claims to remove all top-down targets have been questioned as it is thought they will simply be replaced with an alternative under another guise.

“What I have outlined today is a real plan to cut crime and anti-social behaviour. It’s not – as we’ve been used to – a bureaucratic checklist we expect police officers to follow. It’s a plan that gives responsibility to the police, accountability to the public, and the clearest sense of direction possible: your job is nothing more, and nothing less, than to cut crime,” Ms May told the conference.

In a written ministerial statement supporting the speech, she said: “The first step for reform must be the return of proper operational responsibility to chief constables and their teams and for this to work effectively there needs to be a redesign of the current performance landscape.

“The police service needs more freedom from central control – fewer centrally driven targets and less intervention and interference from government. That is why I am announcing that we are abolishing the centrally-imposed target on police forces to improve public confidence and we will scrap the Policing Pledge.

“In the future, the establishment of a directly-elected individual at force level, setting the force budget, agreeing the local strategic plan, playing a role in wider questions of community safety and appointing – and if necessary removing – the local chief constable, will strengthen local accountability for policing.”

More local accountability, Ms May said, will replace the top-down targets from government.
“We will swap the top-down, bureaucratic accountability for local, democratic accountability.
 “It means publishing accurate local crime data [and] regular beat meetings,” Ms May told the conference.

More detailed proposals are expected to be released later in the summer.

Tight budgets and spending cuts will impact on the police service no less than any other sector, Ms May warned. Following Sir Hugh Orde’s opening speech, warning that police officer numbers would fall as the Government attempts to recoup some of the billions of deficit (see p6), Ms May told the conference that police officers and staff “need to be ready… to make sacrifices and accept pay restraint”.

The existing pay deal for police officers and staff will be fulfilled, but areas such as overtime are expected to be put under scrutiny and the possibilities of national procurement will also be considered.

“I am considering what matters should be delivered for the service nationally. For example, does it really make sense to buy in police cars, uniforms and IT systems in 43 different ways? Where central procurement is consistent with our desire to devolve responsibility and accountability downwards, and it saves money for the taxpayer, we will encourage it and facilitate it,” Ms May told the conference.

While under the previous government there were fears of forced police force mergers, Ms May said these will “not be allowed to happen unless they are voluntary and unless they have the support of local communities”.

More immediate changes to be implemented include plans to scrap the ‘stop and account’ form in its entirety an