Never mind the quality, feel the width.

I can absolutely empathise with the Police Federation who complain that arrest targets are getting in the way of real policing. I too had to work in a target-orientated system, though it didn't start out that way. The idea of targets seems superficially sound - and indeed it is provided they are used sensibly. But what tends to happen - in fact, what always seems to happen - is that the targets take over. Provided you can send in your monthly or whatever statistical return, and tick all the right boxes, nobody really pays any attention to, or cares about what is actually happening on the ground. Targets become an end in themselves, and the meeting of targets becomes more important than doing the job properly. Been there, seen it, done it, got the T-shirt!