The Government’s proposed reforms to the police service must not lead to performance indicators – which have a negative effect on officers and the community – the Chair of Cleveland Police Federation has said.

Paul Crowley was commenting after Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced major policing reforms at the National Police Chiefs' Council and Association of Police and Crime Commissioners' annual conference.

These include a new Police Performance Unit to “track national data on local performance and drive up standards”; a Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee to “get policing back to basics and rebuild trust between local forces and the communities they serve”; and a new National Centre of Policing to harness new technology and forensics, making sure policing is better equipped to meet the changing nature of crime.

Paul said: “We don’t want to see a return to the days where everything was data driven, because what we ended up with – and what we will end up with again if we go down that road – are performance indicators. The human element of policing gets removed entirely from the equation.

"We saw officers being presented with stop-and-search targets, for instance, and we don’t want that again. Policing is a unique job, and certain elements of it need to be recognised and understood. Performance indicators lead to demoralised officers, and police forces that are functioning under the false pretence of good work, at the expense of not only the organisation but also the community.”

He continued: “Police officers want to do their best and help people – they’re there to meet the demand that’s expected of them. What they don’t need is police leaders biting at their heels because they haven’t done enough stop and searches.

“Ultimately, that ends up with officers leaving the police station and looking for people to stop and search, and that is not the right way to go about things. Then we get more complaints, and police officers are forced into corners they don’t want to be in.”