Police reforms 'to cut red tape'

The home secretary has set out plans to reduce bureaucracy in the police force and enable officers "to deliver for the public".

Unveiling the policing green paper on Thursday, Jacqui Smith said that all but one centrally-imposed targets would be removed to enable the police to operate locally.

She told MPs that the government was determined to give police the "tools" they needed to fight crime.

And she announced £25m of extra investment in mobile technology which would see an extra 30,000 mobile devices in use by 2010.

Former Police Federation chairman Jan Berry will take on the new position of "independent champion of reducing bureaucracy" to continue the work of Sir Ronnie Flanagan.

Smith said that Berry, who called for Smith to resign over a pay dispute earlier this year, "will be a powerful voice for the concerns of frontline officers".

"With stronger and more accountable police authorities, with a robust and independent inspectorate, with the momentum that the policing pledge gives us, delivered by the end of the year, today's green paper is therefore the next stage of police reform," she told the Commons.

"It represents a new deal and will mean greater freedom for the police, matched by greater power for the public".

'Confidence'

The reforms would "drive up confidence" in the police force, the home secretary said, before adding that the government had exceeded its 2004 target to reduce crime by 15 per cent.

"This success is a tribute to the police service of this country," she said.

Describing the public as "the best weapon in the fight against crime", she said that the green paper would set out nationally agreed rights to be in place everywhere by the end of year.

These rights will form the new policing pledge with both national and local elements to ensure "that the public's voice is heard in setting police priorities", she pledged.

She added that the government would "legislate to strengthen the democratic link with the public by introducing local directly elected crime and policing representatives" to ensure "the police are tackling the priorities that concern us most".

Smith said the police were "committed to minimum service standards", and set out plans to improve local information, with crime maps everywhere by end of year to "further empower the public".

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said there was "massive public disquiet" about crime levels and claimed the government's proposals were mainly "rehashed".

While the green paper "offers some constructive ideas", he claimed that many of the proposals came from the Conservatives.

Brown

Speaking earlier, the prime minister said the plans would cut red tape and increase the presence of officers in the community.

"We are clearing the decks, cutting the red tape, cutting back on bureaucracy, making it possible for policemen and women to spend far more time on the beat answering people's inquiries, in touch with local communities - a visible presence on the beat so that more and more people will see a policeman or woman there and able to help them," he said.

Association of Chief Police Officers president Ken Jones said officers were "very happy that they had been listened to in the creation of the green paper".

"These are significant changes to reduce bureaucracy," he added.

"No targets are going to be set from the centre, other than those on confidence, although we will be setting targets locally according to what's happening in your neighbourhood, your street.

"We will work very hard through the summer to make sure that we land the advantages of these reforms, which fundamentally are about doing more in neighbourhoods."

Crime

The green paper comes as the Home Office published the annual crime survey which showed that there were 22,000 knife crime offences last year.

Brown said that he wanted to make clear that carrying a knife was unacceptable and that people caught in possession would be prosecuted.

"It is because we have identified the problem of knife crime, and particularly in some hotspots of the country, that we have stepped up our action dramatically," he said.

The prime minister pointed to an increase in the use of stop and search and metal detectors to detect knives, as well as tougher sentences and more visible policing

"If you are caught with a knife, you will be prosecuted, if you have a knife you will be punished, and we will do everything in our power to prevent people having knives," he said.

The figures also showed that there had been a nine per cent drop in police-recorded crime in England and Wales in the 12 months to March.

Smith said she was "extremely pleased" with the reduction.

However, while all the main categories were down, gun crime increased by two per cent and murder by three per cent.

"The government's priority is to build on what we have achieved so that everyone feels improvement," the home secretary said.

"We are firmly committed to deliver further reductions in the crimes that most concern people, particularly violence involving knives and guns."