Today, on the 9th April 2014, the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) published their report into allegations of police mis-recording of crime statistics. (The report –  Caught Red-Handed: Why We Can’t Count on Police Recorded Crime Statistics – can be viewed here ).

During the course of several weeks, the PASC considered written and oral evidence from serving and former police officers, academics, Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), statisticians, subject matter experts, and others. (My written submission can be viewed here).

I thought I’d highlight a few salient points from the report, which lays much of the blame for mis-recording of crime stats directly at the feet of performance targets. It highlights:

• Performance pressures associated with targets acting as perverse incentives. (paragraph 21)
• An entrenched target culture, which persists to this day. (paragraph 73)
• A conflict between achievement of targets and core policing values. (paragraph 88)
• The pernicious effects of target cultures. (paragraph…