Police spend only one day every week solving crime: We do more admin than catching burglars, warns chief constable Barely a fifth of time is devoted to what most people assume job is Steve Finnigan, chief constable of Lancashire police, said more time is spent on administration, 'managing risk' and solving people's problems Research shows 17 per cent of time is dedicated to traditional high volume offences such as burglaries, criminal damage and assaults Chief constable Steve Finnigan has said police spend the equivalent of only one day a week fighting crime Police spend the equivalent of only one day a week fighting crime, a chief constable has revealed. Barely a fifth of their time is devoted to what most people assume is the biggest part of the job. Far more is spent on administration, â€˜managing riskâ€™ and solving peopleâ€™s problems, said Steve Finnigan, chief constable of the Lancashire force. Research shows just 17 per cent of what his officers do relates to traditional high volume offences such as burglaries, criminal damage and assaults. The â€˜cherished notionâ€™ of policing is at risk as the service is squeezed by a variety of demands and unprecedented cuts, he warned. Official statistics show that the majority of police time is taken up hunting for missing people, dealing with troubled families and domestic disputes and helping offenders with mental health problems. When the force analysed all recorded incidents its officers were dealing with, it found that only 17 per cent were classed as actual crime. Thirty-five per cent related to â€˜public safety and welfareâ€™. Anti-social behaviour, ranging from rowdy behaviour to neighbourly disputes, made up 16 per cent, and administrative tasks took up 20 per cent. Transport-related problems such as accidents and disruption on the roads accounted for 10 per cent. Mr Finnigan, head of performance management for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said the effects of financial cuts to the service may be that the more community-related aspects of policing would have to be abandoned. â€˜Missing from home...cat up a tree...whatever. We get lots of calls where we give advice and support. Very often we are happy to do that, we are trying really hard to be problem-solvers. â€˜We deal with vulnerable adults but often there is no criminal issue and we can pour huge resources into that, tying up officers for hours. â€˜We think cuts to the police service are too deep and too quick. We canâ€™t lose all these people and not feel the impact of it. The service is getting squeezed. â€˜The cherished notion of police...there is some danger of that being damaged going forward. â€˜The danger is going from a proactive model of policing to a reactive model.â€™ He said far more time is spent on administration, 'managing risk' and solving people's problems Cuts to local health services and out-of-hours health provision mean officers are often tied up ferrying people to hospital, or waiting hours for a mental health bed to become free, Mr Finnigan said. â€˜The culture of the organisation is changing. Seventeen per cent of what we do involves crime, 83 per cent does not. Lots of these areas (in the 83 per cent) have a strong link to crime but there are other areas that are not strictly crime-related. â€˜When I look at my own force I see the effect. Every day we manage risk. Thatâ€™s our job. Itâ€™s absolutely not just about cutting crime.â€™ His comments were reinforced by Tony Lloyd, chairman of the Association of Police and Crime Commissionersâ€™ Board, who said cuts could mean police only being able to respond to â€˜blue lightâ€™ demands, rather than community ones. Mr Lloyd, who is also police commissioner for Greater Manchester, said he had â€˜serious reservationsâ€™ about cuts to police budgets. â€˜The more the numbers go down, and demand goes up, the more the police will end up responding to the blue light demands rather than community demands because they have to.â€™