Police Targets
August 11, 2007 by Jake Anders
Targets are a good idea in theory, but they must incentivise the right kind of behaviour
When cycling home across the Town Path in Salisbury earlier this week I was dismayed to see an elderly gentleman having his details taken by police. He didn’t look like someone who had set out to break the law, and yet clearly he had since the police were very busy cautioning him. As I came nearer the nature of his crime became apparent: he had been cycling on one of the path’s two no cycling sections.
This is breaking the law, and I have no argument with the fact that he should not have been doing it, however was the response really proportionate? He was told that he had to appear at the police station and pay a not inconsiderable fine. After reflecting upon this I realised the reason that they were going after such minor offences: it looks much better on their targets. It’s not difficult to catch someone cycling a bike, whereas a well-run drugs operation is difficult to break up.
I do believe that used correctly targets can be a very helpful tool in improving performance in policing as well as in other public services, but it would be far better to change the policing targets so that they encourage the police to dedicate more time to the more serious and complex crimes. We now have Community Support Officers and these may be used for helping reduce low level crimes and anti-social behaviour which can often be solved without need for punitive measures.
On a side note, it would be a good idea to reconsider the legislation on these no cycling zones to maybe include a clause that only condemns cycling in these places when it may be a risk to other path users, at the moment it is an offence to cycle in these places at two in the morning when no-one else is around and that is clearly ridiculous.
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You are completely correct about targets distorting the aims of the Police service, and the elderly gentleman being given a ticket may well have deserved a less severe talking-to and verbal warning, but there’s nothing to say that this man had not already been warned, and persisted in endangering himself and others. There is no way for us to know, and it seems people are often too quick to judge and criticise the police.
As for cycling off paths in the early hours of the morning, surely this is the time when such behaviour is most reckless and dangerous? An innocent pedestrian, wearing normal, non high-visibility clothing, could very easily be injured, and that is clearly ridiculous.
You raise some really important points here Jake Anders… please keep it up!