Bonuses for all police officers should be scrapped, according to the police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson.

Stephenson told The Daily Telegraph the bonus culture in the service should be overhauled because it could warp policing priorities, failed to motivate officers and damaged public confidence.

Bonuses in the service, thought to cost more than £40 million a year, are given to chief constables and other senior police officers for achieving national and local targets.

Stephenson, has declined more than £100,000 worth of performance-related bonuses since 2005.

He said: “If I had accepted a bonus I always felt as though I would compromise my operational independence and discharge of duties, and that is something that forms the basis to my whole approach to policing.

“I am very disappointed we still have bonus payments in policing. Now is the time to get rid of them as far as I am concerned. They should never have been there in the first place.”

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