Red tape cuts fail to impress police_2

19 Feb 09
Plans to reduce police bureaucracy, which the Home Office claims will save 260,000 hours a year, have been given a lukewarm reception by bodies representing the force.

20 February 2009

By David Williams

Plans to reduce police bureaucracy, which the Home Office claims will save 260,000 hours a year, have been given a lukewarm reception by bodies representing the force.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced this week that activity-based costing, which enables forces to compare their use of resources, would be scrapped.

ABC requires around half of all police officers to complete a time sheet accounting for each 15-minute block of every shift they work over a two-week period.

The Home Office says the hours spent on ABC can now be put towards cutting crime and increasing public trust in the police.

‘These changes will halve the number of Home Office requests to the police for data. By scrapping this lengthy time sheet I hope to free up around 150 extra officers and staff,’ Smith said.

But Simon Reed, vice-chair of the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, said he doubted that the move would result in any tangible gain in neighbourhood policing.

He dismissed ABC as ‘pointless’, but added: ‘Officers would probably be doing these forms at the end of a shift, or in downtime, not in productive time. They’re not going to find Lord Lucan in that time. They wouldn’t stop going to an incident to fill them in.’

Reed said the most significant bureaucratic burden on police was evidence-gathering, estimating that at least half of what police submit to the Crown Prosecution Service is never used.
‘We won’t make strides until we tackle that,’ he said.

The Association of Chief Police Officers said the Home Office announcement merely confirmed its decision made in December that forces would no longer have to take part in ABC.

Scrapping ABC was also among the recommendations of an interim report by former Police Federation head Jan Berry, published by the Home Office this week.

Another study, by Home Office permanent secretary Sir David Normington, looked at reducing the burden of data requests to police.
Its recommendations, including a two-year moratorium on new data collection requests and the establishment of a ‘data hub’, have been fully endorsed by Smith.

PFfeb2009

Did you enjoy this article?

AddToAny

Top