Police statistics have been likened to Orwellian “newsspeak” by the chairman of the body representing rank-and-file officers.
Brian Docherty from the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) launched an attack on the culture of targets on the anniversary of the creation of the single police force.
He told the SPF’s annual conference that major changes are needed or officers would end up “policing for statistics instead of policing for the public”.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Labour leader Jim Murphy, Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie and Conservative leader Ruth Davidson are all speaking during the event at the Trump Turnberry Resort in South Ayrshire.
Mr Docherty appealed to party leaders to listen to what SPF members were saying ahead of the General Election.
He said: “A lot of people don’t like talking about ‘targets’, they prefer the phrase ‘Key Performance Indicators or KPIs’. I am one who calls all that jargon targets.
“Targets were introduced for two basic reasons. One, politicians of all parties wanted a degree of control over police activity, and two, they wanted some form of check that they were getting value for money. I can see why they wanted that.
“They introduced business practices and accountancy measures to try and show on a balance sheet whether they were obtaining a good police service.
“This is where things started to go wrong. Policing cannot be explained in pure statistical terms for what is measurable is not always meaningful and the meaningful is not always measurable.”
Referring to the sinister language used by the totalitarian state in George Orwell’s novel 1984, he added: “Police statistics have become something of a ‘newsspeak’ for the way in which we quantify success.
“They demand swathes of resources and if things keep going as they currently are, we will soon have more people counting than we will actually delivering the job.
“We might never be free of targets, but unless they undergo major adjustments then we will continue along this road of policing for statistics instead of policing for the public.”
The conference follows the publication of a critical report into use of non-statutory or “consensual” stop and search by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland and a second report on the issue by Police Scotland.
Leading QC John Scott will chair a new independent advisory group on the issue and make recommendations to Scottish ministers by August.
Mr Docherty warned there was no simple solution to resolve the controversy surrounding stop and search.
He said: “Some commentators would have you believe that by creating a legislative framework for all searches, all would be right in the world. They are wrong.
“It is simply impossible to codify the myriad of different circumstances where asking – I repeat asking – someone’s co-operation with a search is currently the right thing to do.
“Be under no illusion, voluntary searches are an important feature of a police officer’s toolkit.”
In his address to the conference, Mr Docherty said the police budget was being cut and “can be cut no more”.
He said: “The expectation to make more savings cannot be delivered without hurting the police service, police pay and police numbers.”
He also hit out at the “crazy” policing of last summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
“Ridiculously long hours, massive disruption to days-off, tours of duty starting at crazy times and a temporarily disabled system for the recording of overtime payments came together in what is often described as a ‘perfect storm’,” he said.
“Neither police officers nor their representatives want these issues to spoil the memory of a successful major event for Scotland.
“But we demand that there is no repeat of some of the crazy operational planning that led to our officers’ working arrangements being abused.”