Police 'ticket culture' criticism

North Wales Police officers said tickets were easy targets to achieve

North Wales Police have been accused by the force's officers' trade union of spending more time chasing penalty tickets than solving crimes.

A North Wales Police Federation survey found many disillusioned, believing the job was more about issuing tickets than dealing with victims of crime properly.

But assistant chief constable Ian Shannon said fewer tickets had been issued over the last year and a half.

The force expected a great deal from staff and was among the best, he said.

Some 1,500 questionnaires were sent out to the constables, sergeants, inspectors and chief inspectors it represents in the spring and just over 500 responded.

Officers rated their morale as very low in the survey and were also critical of the quality of service they provided the public.

The main thrust of the force is to improve quality of service and the satisfaction of the public and the confidence the public has in us Assistant chief constable Ian Shannon

More than two-thirds of the officers who completed the survey said they did not think it has improved over the last two years.

The police federation said that is because the force has a "points win prizes" culture and that it is too busy concentrating on issuing fixed penalty tickets for minor crimes because they show up better in the statistics.

One officer told the survey "the general bean-counting attitude of the force has alienated the police from the community.

"The public feel there is no balance - we will not be there when they are assaulted or broken into, but we are always there to point a speed gun."

Proceeds of crime

Another respondent to the federation's questionnaire said: "I'm sick and tired of the performance culture, and having to justify to law-abiding members of the public as to why they are getting a ticket.

The officer added: "They are easy targets to achieve when what we should be doing is targeting the real criminals who are getting fat on the proceeds of crime and drugs.

Richard Eccles, secretary of the North Wales Police Federation, said officers want more time to look after crime victims.

"We want to deal with a member of the public, who's a victim of a burglary in a proper, professional and competent manner, and we need to be left alone, from the dross jobs, to be able to focus on that.

Mr Eccles added: "And if something is a policing issue, we'll deal with it. If it isn't a policing issue then it needs to be batted off to another authority so that they can deal with it professionally."

Sickness

In response, North Wales Police assistant chief constable Ian Shannon said he was surprised by the suggestion that morale among staff was low.

Staff sickness - which often goes with poor morale - was at a very low level in the force, he said.

Mr Shannon said: "The main thrust of the force is to improve quality of service and the satisfaction of the public and the confidence the public has in us.

"In terms of fixed penalty notices what's being suggested there is just simply factually inaccurate."

He said the use of the tickets had gone down in the last 18 months.

"We do however expect a great deal of our staff and of ourselves.," Mr Shannon said.

"We want to provide the best possible service to the public and I think you would be legitimately asking me where we were if north Wales was a poorly performing force in terms of, as you put it, 'bean-counting'.

"We're not, we're one of the best."