Proposed changes to police performance could cause perverse behaviours among police teams and jeopardise the independence of the office of constable, South Yorkshire Police Federation has warned.<\/p>\n
The Home Secretary announced a dedicated government unit to improve performance across policing last month in a move she said would bolster public confidence.<\/p>\n
Yvette Cooper told the National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council (NPCC) and Association for Police and Crime Commissioners that the Home Office-led unit will be introduced to directly monitor police performance, response times, hours spent on the beat and police standards, misconduct and disciplinary procedures.<\/p>\n
But Steve Kent, South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair, said he didn\u2019t believe the new unit was a necessary addition.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s not that standards shouldn\u2019t be monitored, because they shout. But I\u2019m really concerned about this.<\/p>\n
\u2018I have been really vocal now for some time about the performance culture in policing. A number of years ago, we saw some perverse behaviours going on within our force where people were under pressure to arrest and stop and search, and that absolutely should not be happening.<\/p>\n
\u2018It comes into direct conflict with the independence of the office of constable. All constables are independent officials and they should not be subject to league tables – because you then get teams and districts competing against each other.<\/p>\n
\u2018This can drive an environment where people are arrested to satisfy a statistic rather than what actually needs to happen in that incident. I\u2019m extremely concerned by this and will be monitoring it with great interest.\u2019<\/p>\n
Performance targets were officially abolished in 2010 following the Conservative Party’s election, as part of a broader effort to reduce bureaucracy. They were hugely divisive with many arguing that they skewed police priorities, undermined public trust and caused police officers undue stress and demotivation.<\/p>\n
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