From a report in today's Daily Mail about a new report from Civitas:
"Arresting or fining someone for a trifling offence - such as a child stealing a Mars bar - is a good way of hitting the target and pleasing the Home Office. Amazingly, the chocolate theft ranks as highly as catching a killer."
Reacting to the report, by Harriet Sergeant, David Davis told The Telegraph:
“This is a desperate but not surprising indictment of Labour’s red tape, target-driven culture which has distorted police priorities and undermined the relationship between the police and the public. At the same time, bureaucracy has tied officers to their desks and kept them off the streets.”
As early as 2001 Labour was warned about the fatal danger of targets.
