The chair of Staffordshire Police Federation has warned the Government’s plans to bring back league tables for forces could lead to a return to the target-driven culture that has previously damaged the police service.
Phil Jones has called for politicians to reconsider the move, after it was confirmed today that Home Secretary Priti Patel is drawing up plans with the Home Office to measure forces’ performance and compare them against national benchmarks.
The league table will focus on six crime types including homicide, serious violence and cyber-crime.
“The Home Office is calling this a ‘relentless focus on cutting crime’ but I don’t buy that. I actually think these league tables will see the police service return to the target-driven culture that was so damaging the last time a Government tried this approach. This could prove not just damaging for our members but also for the communities they serve,” said Phil.
“Scrutiny and accountability are already a huge part of the police service so I am not really sure what the Government is seeking to achieve.”
Phil’s comments back calls from national chair John Apter for the Government to ‘stop and think before returning to the mistakes of their predecessors’.
John said scrutiny and accountability are already a large part of policing.
“Re-introducing targets in policing would be a damaging and retrograde step. In previous years when they have been used, we have seen forces focus on targets to the exclusion of other issues. This is not good for the public and certainly no good for the victims of crime,” he explained.
“These league tables would also restrict the ability of forces to focus on local issues, because chief officers would be chasing targets which were judged on criteria set in Whitehall. If, despite these warnings, this is pursued it will fail, and it will be damaging.”
Targets were introduced by the previous Government in 2007 but the Federation successfully campaigned for them to be scrapped.
