Chief constable snubs Blunkett's crime-cutting targets

One of Britain's biggest police forces is to defy David Blunkett's targets for cutting crime, claiming they are neither realistic nor achievable.

Thames Valley Police has set its targets for reducing robbery and burglary far below the Home Secretary's guidelines after the Chief Constable, Peter Neyroud, said that hitting the national goals would damage efforts to increase detection rates and put increased pressure on an already overstretched force. Other forces may follow his lead. The dispute has echoes of targets set for the National Health Service, which health professionals claim have distorted clinical priorities.

Members of the Thames Valley Police Authority have agreed their own targets after Mr Neyroud said the force was already stretched by the demands of countering increased terrorist threats and the stream of officers leaving the force.

The authority's decision to alter two Home Office targets could put it on a collision course with Mr Blunkett, who has to approve each force's crime reduction plan under powers introduced last year. Mr Neyroud said that to expect his force to hit national Home Office targets for cutting burglary and robbery would be "flying in the face of any known reality".

Thames Valley would have to cut burglary by more than 11 per cent and reduce robbery by a quarter next year to meet the Home Office targets. Instead the force has pledged to reduce burglary by 5 per cent and cut robbery by 10 per cent next year.

Mr Neyroud said the Home Office targets were unrealistic because the force had already cut incidents of burglary to a historic low. He said robbery fell by more than 18 per cent this year, but the Home Office target to cut it by a further 25 per cent next year was unachievable without making deep cuts in policing elsewhere.

Mr Neyroud insisted he was committed to a "really tough target-based approach to delivery" but warned he would not set targets he did not believe were realistic. He said: "If the targets are not set at a level which we think is realistic we either ignore them or we make serious decisions such as taking resources out of road policing, child protection and relationships with schools."

Thames Valley's stand will reopen the argument over increasing Home Office control of the police. Chief constables are known to be angry at what they see as excessive interference by the Government in the running of the police forces by introducing a growing list of targets and action plans.

Chris Fox, the president-designate of the Association of Chief Police Officers, has warned that a "dangerous" increase in Whitehall monitoring and bureaucracy is hindering the fight against crime. Under the policing plan, chief constables must include three-year targets for reducing vehicle crime, burglary and robbery.

Mr Neyroud said the effect of officers leaving to join neighbouring forces, especially the Met with its higher allowances, and a surge in retirement meant 80 per cent of officers on front-line duties were on probation.