Conference Speech: Home Secretary pledges to hand power back to front-line police

The new Secretary of State said yesterday the coalition Government would "do things differently" by scrapping Whitehall interference, ditching paperwork and removing targets.

She offered police more powers and discretion to get on with their job but said that in return they must accept local accountability from a directly-elected individual.

In her first speech since being appointed last week, Mrs May she is "not interested in running the police" and wants to give all officers professional responsibility.

She warned the Police Federation annual conference in Bournemouth that police must "bear a fair share of the burden" as sacrifices are made to tackle the budget deficit.

She said: "I want to give the service back its professional responsibility, getting rid of the centralised bureaucracy that wastes money, saps morale and crushes innovation.

"I want to free the men and women of our police forces to do what they are trained to do, want to do and the public expects them to do – make our society safer.

"But in return for this new freedom, the police service must accept a transfer of power over policing from Whitehall to communities by giving local people a real say over how their streets are policed."

The Home Secretary added that the Government would respect and trust police, restore pride and "bring some common sense back to policing".

She revealed 24-hour drinking laws, widely blamed for an increase in violence in some cities, are under review.

Mrs May also said pay and pensions for police and staff would undergo a "full review".

Front-line police representatives were told the power to charge people suspected of low-level offences will be returned to custody sergeants, cutting out the Crown Prosecution Service.

CPS solicitors will remain responsible for serious cases but

misdemeanours will be in the hands of police.

The Home Secretary said her Government will examine "untangling the knot" of health and safety rules and re-balance the law in favour of those who stand up to thugs.

She said national "one-size-fits-all" targets will be dismantled and unnecessary paperwork scrapped, starting with a form used for stopping people in the street.

But she stepped back from guaranteeing that police numbers, currently around 140,000 and already frozen or falling in some areas, will not fall as a result of cutbacks.

Police Federation chairman Paul McKeever said police suffer "initiative fatigue", are fed up with bureaucrats constantly checking their work and want to be treated as professionals.

Punning on the British comedy films, he said the Labour Government created a "carry on offending" culture by putting the rights of criminals first and creating unnecessary laws.

Mr McKeever said: "Home Secretary, give the public the police service that they want and deserve, a force that recognises what we are there for, to serve the communities we police." He added: "We need to be accountable, but we appear to have such an unnecessary number of quangos and bodies created to check on us that one wonders if this is merely to create jobs than fulfil any useful function."

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has pledged to get rid of unnecessary laws.