Forget the paedophiles, solve low level crime to meet government targets, police told

Detectives were told that arresting a group of active child abusers would count as only "one tick in the box".

They were instead encouraged to use their resources to trap large numbers of burglars, according to a Police Federation review.

The incident was one of many examples of a target-chasing culture-uncovered by the nationwide study - the first of its kind.

The review also found that a specially-equipped car, staffed by a traffic officer and a senior detective, was diverted to catching drivers who were not wearing their seatbelts rather than tracking known criminals.

The pressure on police to chase Government targets is being compounded by a shortage of trained detectives - there are an estimated 2,000 vacancies across the country.

Alan Gordon, vice chairman of the Police Federation, said: "Some of the staffing levels have reached an appallingly low scale.

"We were given examples of in the City of Sheffield just one detective on duty for nights.

"That officer would be expected to attend every serious assault, an allegation of rape, a serious burglary, whatever."

The six-month study of CID units, which is due to be published in full within a month, will heap pressure on the Home Office to scrap some of the more controversial police targets.

For example, the measurement of "Offenders Brought to Justice" counts all offences as equal. This means that catching a rapist or paedophile carries no more importance than fining a drunk.

Mr Gordon said: "One officer told us that he was actually investigating a paedophile ring which he considered to be still active, but at that time the force were under considerable pressure to reduce crime in a particular area, such as burglary.

"If he'd arrested the paedophiles it would still have only been one tick in the box, and therefore no more importance was attached to that than investigating burglaries.

"I think that was a very harsh indication of how policing activity has been skewed and directed in the wrong way by the target regime which has been imposed on us."

In some areas, Mr Gordon added, police were keeping crime figures low by convincing anyone whose mobile phone was stolen to report it lost instead.

The disclosures come as an investigation by ITV's Tonight with Trevor McDonald programme reveals widespread unhappiness among detectives over their workload and the target-chasing culture.

Will Whale, from Southampton CID - which is currently four detectives short of full strength - said: "The administration in the police is huge.

"Life on Mars is great, The Sweeney's great, The Bill is great - you never see them filling out a form.

"I didn't join the police to be an administrator. I joined to lock up villains and make society safer."

Police Minister Tony McNulty told Tonight that the Police Federation was overstating the extent of the target-chasing culture.

He said: "I respect their views - I just think they over-egg and exaggerate to make a point."

The Tonight with Trevor McDonald report on policing will be broadcast on ITV1 at 8pm this evening.