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This paper considers the impact of performance management and the application of targets on public services, particularly the police service. It identifies the unintended consequences of targets on the delivery of service and notes that in 1999 HMIC were to raise serious doubts as to the value of this management approach for public policing in England and Wales. It considers the impact of 'micro-management' on services that performance management ultimately represents. It goes on to reassess the purported attractions of performance management and presents an alternative in terms of a more holistic and local management approach based on a 'systems' application which highlights the value of local feedback as a driver for service delivery. It challenges the highly centralised and mechanistic orientation which performance management, as pursued by New Labour, now represents. It concludes by arguing that a 'systems approach' would fit well within the planned roll-out of the new Neighbourhood Policing strategy while also providing a sound platform for the Basic Command Unit reform proposals recently identified by an influential police association.

This paper will consider the new demands placed on police forces arising from the dramatic increase in cases of fraud and cybercrime. It will assess the ability-or current inability-of the police to respond to this development. The paper will therefore be directed towards the growing requirement for substantial internal police reform that goes well beyond anything contemplated heretofore. The paper will draw on the recent and important HMIC PEEL Review of police efficiency which has for the first time raised the question of identifying not just police capacity but also police force capability. It is evident that while police forces are able to quickly identify police capacity [ranks and police numbers] they experience great difficulty in relation to capabilities. This in fact links in with the police response to the 'new' forms of crime which is now replacing acquisitive crime. The paper will seek to identify current police responses to this development and also highlight its inadequacy.

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