The detention of someone for stealing a 38p packet of biscuits has been used by police officers to highlight concerns about arrest 'league tables'.

Chief Constable Mike Fuller is looking into the circumstances of the arrest which was understood to have happened in Dover.

An officer with the South Kent force – which covers this area – told a Kent Police Federation meeting he had been sent in the early hours to carry out the arrest.

After the federation meeting, Kent's deputy chief constable Adrian Leppard said arrest figures would not count towards personal or team performance targets.

His intervention was welcomed by the chairman of the federation, which represents rank and file police officers.

Ian Pointon said: "This is good news. Officers must be allowed to use their judgment. This officer was sent in the early hours to make an arrest for the theft of biscuits.

"It was part of the culture that officers had targets for arrests and the number they made."

Mr Pointon said when it was "right and proper", people should be arrested.

He added: "We should be concentrating on the quality of arrests, not the quantity.

"Arrests take officers off the streets. We have to make sure that the time officers are on duty is used efficiently. I do not think it is efficient to drag people into custody when they should not be there."

Mr Leppard said senior management in the force had been issued guidance from Mr Fuller that the "league table" approach to arrests must stop.

But he added: "I expect officers to do their duty, and not to shy away from doing the right thing and to arrest offenders when it is appropriate. There are many occasions when targeted police response will result in people being arrested and that will not change."