Police are failing to properly record crimes as serious as rape to hit performance targets, a damning report has revealed. The Public Administration select committee called for local Police and Crime Commissioners to abolish all targets to help restore public trust in crime figures. They also called for an investigation into treatment of a police officer who blew the whistle on corrupt recording practices. 'Former Metropolitan Police officer James Patrick described how massaging numbers to hit targets had become "an ingrained part of policing culture". He exposed how crimes were routinely downgraded, with robberies logged as theft and burglary reclassified as "criminal damage"or even "no-crime" to make them "disappear in a puff of smoke". (Daily Mail, 9 April) So all that prime TV drama about super efficient police is in reality a complete fiction. RD
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