NOTTS Chief Constable Chris Eyre has hit out at red tape which, he says, is hampering efforts to fight crime.
Mr Eyre said laws and regulations such as the Data Protection Act make life difficult for officers trying to share information with other organisations, like the city council.
He spoke after a meeting heard about a ground-breaking project in Aspley, in which youths involved in antisocial behaviour built friendships with their victims.
The meeting heard the scheme would be hard to replicate across the city because it could run into too much paperwork and procedure.
Mr Eyre said he had spoken to Notts officers who were holding back on talking to other authorities about people involved in crime.
He gave an example of an inspector who felt unable to share information about a council house tenant with Nottingham City Homes for fear of breaking information laws.
He said: "I'm trying to say to officers: 'be lawful but enabling'.
"But we've got to cut back incessant bureaucracy in the public sector.
"It's not just a Nottingham issue, we've got to deconstruct the architecture we've built up over the last few years."
The project was set up last year after complaints by residents about lads hanging around on the streets of Aspley and causing trouble.
Notts Police and Nottingham City Council work together as part of the city's Community Protection department.
Community protection officers share the same offices as city police officers and have a data-sharing protocol in place, meaning they have access to police systems.
But Richard Antcliff, head of neighbourhood enforcement for Community Protection, said it had been "painful" to navigate the permissions required.
A spokeswoman for the Information Commissioner's Office, which provides enforcement and guidance on data protection, said: "The Data Protection Act is not a barrier to information sharing. There are processes to follow but the idea behind it is it is possible to share information."
