Comic policing: Officers who nabbed Red Nose charity cheat claim they 'solved' 542 crimes

Officers said it was proof of the "absurd" pressure they are under to solve as many minor crimes as possible to bump up government figures.

The youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, collected £700 from friends and neighbours to give to charity.

But he did not hand in the cash to Comic Relief organisers, who hold a Red Nose Day every two years to raise money.

Police investigated the child for obtaining money by deception.

Instead of recording one crime, community support officers were sent to interview all who pledged money on his sponsorship form.

They logged a staggering 542 different crimes - then let him off with a formal warning, the Police Federation's annual conference in Blackpool heard.

Under Home Office rules this counts as 542 crimes solved, in the same way as if officers had trapped the same number of murderers, rapists or burglars.

Simon Reed, a senior official of the federation which represents rankand-file officers, said: "Officers are being encouraged and, at the same time, pressurised to come down on every single misdemeanour.

"A child obtained £700 by keeping sponsorship money for Comic Relief.

"One crime? No, it actually took several weeks, and rigorous house-to-house inquiries by CSOs, to detect 542 crimes. That was all for a final warning."

A sergeant from North Wales, Sam Roberts, said her force had created a points system for different ways of punishing a crime.

She said officers receive only five points for an arrest, compared with 20 points for handing out an onthespot fine.

This encourages officers to downplay the seriousness of the offence in order for it to be solved quickly.

A fine is considered "case closed", whereas an arrest involves piles of paperwork.

The Government has faced growing demands to reform or scrap its target for bringing "offenders to justice".

It ranks every crime in the same way, regardless of whether it is a warning for being drunk or a murder.

Rank-and-file police say it has stripped them of the discretion to give offenders, particularly children, a simple telling-off.

Instead, they are under pressure to take "ludicrous" decisions to give a fixedpenalty notice or formal warning in order to chalk up a solved crime.

As yesterday's Daily Mail revealed, examples include a Cheshire man cautioned by police for being "in possession of an egg with intent to throw".

A Home Office spokesman said: "Officers should not pursue detection numbers for numbers' sake if that means chasing minor misdemeanours at the expense of serious offenders."