Surrey Police Authority has set out a “shopping list” of targets it want the police to meet this year.

The Authority wants the police force to charge at least 135 suppliers of class A drugs, detect 100 per cent of thefts when good forensic evidence is available and disrupt or dismantle at least 10 organised criminal gangs.

Last week Surrey Police Authority approved a revised set of targets that Surrey Police will work towards in 2009/2010.

Approval of these targets had been delayed by the uncertainty arising from the ongoing capping dispute between SPA and the Government.

The targets have been set even though the force, which has already shrunk by 144 police officers and civilians, could lose another 50 front line police and civilian staff.

Also on the SPA list are maintaining the reductions in serious violent crime and serious acquisitive crime, maintaining levels of public confidence and achieving 3.5 per cent efficiency savings.

The police have also been ordered to increase overall satisfaction with the service provided to victims of crime and road traffic accidents to at least 83.9 per cent.

The Authority monitors the force’s performance against the targets throughout the year and holds the Chief Constable to account SPA chairman Peter Williams said: “We have always set tough targets for the force to reflect the high expectations that Surrey’s residents rightly have for their police.

“To the credit of Surrey’s officers and staff, the force has on the whole performed very well, achieving significant reductions in crime and improvements in confidence.

“However, we have to be realistic about the shrinking resources available to the Chief Constable – even before the Government began the process of capping our budget, we have had to reduce the workforce by 144 officers and staff.

“If the Government succeeds in capping us, a further 50 officer and staff roles will be lost during this year. These are significant losses for a relatively small force, and have influenced how ambitious we have felt able to be with the targets for this year.

“The targets that we have set for this year reflect our intention that performance in all key areas should at least be maintained, and in a number of areas should further improve.”