The latest criticism of the Government's target culture comes from an unexpected source. The Chief Constable of Surrey, Bob Quick, has told this paper that his force's rating as the best performing in the country is misleading because it is based on achieving Government targets to increase "the number of offenders brought to justice" by focusing operations on soft targets. "We are," he said, "not doing as well as it seems."

In particular, he suggests - as many people have suspected - that police are issuing far more cautions to shoplifters and cannabis users, and fixed penalty notices for disorderly behaviour, rather than engaging with serious crimes. "We are at risk of claiming statistical success when real operational issues remain to be addressed," he said.

Mr Quick's candour is admirable. He has identified the central problem with targets, which is that they can result in public service staff simply doing the minimum necessary to tick the boxes required by government, even if this means they fall short of public expectations in doing their real job. Issuing cautions for cannabis possession and shoplifting is no bad thing but this focus is damaging if it means that police then fail to deal with crimes of violence, burglary and car criminals.

He also raises another serious problem with the target culture, namely, the increasing unwillingness of the Crown Prosecution Service to bring genuinely challenging cases to court. He says that in order to diminish the number of failed prosecutions, it is dropping cases that are more difficult and less certain to result in a conviction. But it is precisely serious and persistent criminals who will exploit every available procedural and legal loophole in the system.

What is needed is more careful preparation for these cases on the part of prosecutors and police, not a risk-averse culture which produces statistical success by avoiding dealing with serious crime. Targets are meant to improve public services; instead, they risk skewing their effectiveness.

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