Conservative PCC Announces Fewer Targets and More Policing

Taking the shackles off officers, freeing up their time and releasing them from a numerical target driven culture is the latest radical change announced by Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis.

Conservative elected Mr Ellis said, “I promised I would get rid of most targets and I have.  I am really pleased with the work that’s been done to stop unproductive time officers spend chasing figures.  I want to see officers given more autonomy in how to prevent, tackle and resolve crime to make communities safer, without endlessly aiming to meet targets.

“This is a new approach that will change the culture of policing, remove the conveyor belt of targets and let police officers be police officers.  Targets are unhelpful too often they get in the way of delivering effective services.

“It’s about police officers having the time to make long term visible and sustainable changes to communities that improve people’s quality of life, making them safe and feel safe.  It’s about getting the whole system to work differently, scrapping silo thinking and having  public services working collaboratively to common agreed outcomes that make a difference to local people.”

This move away from numerical targets will not mean that police performance isn’t measured. Instead measurements will be more meaningful, focussing on those things that have the greatest impact on local communities.