UK Home Secretary Theresa May has criticized police chiefs for failing to join her war on red tape.

Theresa May called the current police system “broken,” and accused police chiefs of ignoring orders and being occupied with hitting targets rather than fighting crime.

Speaking at the Association of Chief Police Officers' annual conference in Harrogate, Ms May said, "Here's the problem. Not all of you are following my lead. Some of you are still setting your forces targets that we've scrapped nationally."

The UK Home Secretary also announced that they would establish a company to manage the different computer systems of the country’s police forces in order to save police’s time as well as government’s money.

According to Ms May, around £1.2 billion is being spent on ICT, which has a workforce of as many as 5,000 staff, and work on more than 2,000 different systems across 100 data centres.

The new company, which should become operational by spring next year, will promise better systems plus better value for money.

Ms May’s comments sparked anger among police chiefs. Senior police officers said Ms May was unfair in her comments because reducing red tape was not as simple as flicking a switch.