Police scrap arrests league table

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/tyne/6579677.stm

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Northumbria Police has stopped some of its officers running an unofficial football-style league table based on the number of arrests made.

The officers in north Tyneside awarded each other three points for an arrest and one for a summons, fixed penalty or penalty notices for disorder.

Deputy Chief Constable David Warcup said officers had stopped using the table, which was pinned up at stations.

He said it was not "an effective way of measuring performance".

A concerned serving officer blew the whistle on the contest.

'Ripped up'

The unnamed policeman told a local newspaper he was worried colleagues were preoccupied by the contest and feared arrests could be made unnecessarily.

He was also concerned that defence solicitors could use the league table in court to claim their clients were wrongly arrested.

We would absolutely discourage anybody from using their powers simply to meet targets Deputy Chief Constable David Warcup

The force's Deputy Chief Constable stressed that his officers did not make arrests without good reason.

But he said the league tables were ripped up when he heard about them.

"As soon as we found out there were numerical targets, where there was a points system, that was immediately stopped.

"It was brought to my attention, and I brought it to the attention of the Assistant Chief Constable Sue Sim, and it was stopped that day.

"We would absolutely discourage anybody from using their powers simply to meet targets."