Make more arrests or face punishment, police officers told

The warning to front-line officers has sparked outrage among rank and file police leaders.

Officers are being told they need to make a minimum quota of arrests or cautions - or face action under police regulations.

Rank and file representatives say this exposes the Government's target culture, which they claim forces officers to make "easy" detections such as issuing cautions for cannabis possession.

Metropolitan Police Federation chairman Glen Smyth said: "Police officers should take action as and when it is necessary and when it is appropriate. For officers to be set artificial targets is entirely wrong.

"The public should not be simply targeted in this way to achieve an artificial target."

The warning was issued to inspectors in the borough of Merton. The email from borough chief inspector Mark Payne is aimed at officers who have failed to make at least three "sanction detections" in a 15-week period.

"I am fully prepared to use police regulations to resolve issues should improvements not be forthcoming," he writes.

Officers in south London say police will be forced to get "easy results" such as targeting students at a local college for possession of drugs.

Borough commanders are set monthly "sanction detection" targets which measure the number of arrests and cautions or penalty notices they issue.

There is concern police are forcing up detection rates through the use of issuing fixed penalty notices for disorder.

The Standard understands that officers in Merton have targets to make two arrests or cautions each month.

The row comes only months after police leaders criticised the Government for imposing a target-driven culture on officers. The Police Federation said that imposing targets was causing them to "criminalise middle England".

"Everything is driven by performance to meet Government targets and objectives. This issue was the subject of a great deal of criticism in Lord Scarman's report into the Brixton riots when police performance was measured on the numbers of stops and arrests they carried out rather than their quality," said Mr Smyth.

"I do not think that police regulations should be used as a tool for bullying people to take inappropriate action."

Mr Smyth said there were a number of situations where officers did not have an opportunity to make arrests.

One of the officers being threatened with action has notched up more than 30 arrests in his career but has failed to achieve three in 15 weeks.

Merton commander, Chief Superintendent Chris Bourlet said: "Police managers continually-monitor performance against set targets to ensure they are reasonable and achievable and to ensure officers are supported in their efforts to meet the expected standards.

"As part of the performance monitoring process and in order to assist and support them in achieving their targets, a memo was recently issued by senior management in Merton to remind staff that performance is monitored.

"Senior officers have also met with representatives from the Police Federation. As a result of these discussions it has been agreed that the monitoring process will be reviewed."

The memo to Merton borough inspectors from Mr Payne states: "I am fully prepared to use police regulations/MPS policy to resolve issues should improvements not be forthcoming. I am happy to discuss individual cases with you. However, I will not accept a lack of improvement."