The Metropolitan police operate a target-driven "culture of fear" that pressures officers to meet arbitrary and unrealistic quotas for arrests and searches, damaging morale and encouraging unethical behaviour, according to the organisation representing serving officers.

The report by the Metropolitan Police Federation, based on email evidence from about 250 officers, said police felt "almost continually under threat of being blamed and subsequently punished for failing to hit targets", arguing that this culture risked wasting time and harming overall police work.

Last year, the home secretary, Theresa May, warned that target-led policing appeared to be making a comeback within some forces as a form of "security blanket". In 2010, May had called for an end to targets as a way of gauging the success of policing.

The Met, which insists it does not set individual targets for officers, rejected the report's claim of a bullying culture, while adding: "We make no excuses for having a culture that values performance."

The report quotes some of the responses from the unnamed officers, with one saying they felt fearful about an apparent target-driven regime: "Every month we are named and shamed with a league table by our supervisors, which does seem very bullying/overbearing".

A number of officers who sent submissions to the report complained that quotas for actions such as arrests or stopping and searching suspects were unrealistic, affecting their overall work and damaging faith in senior officers. One said officers were set the target of at least three "sanction detections" – where someone has been charged, cautioned or otherwise formally dealt with – each month, a figure seemingly "plucked from the air" by an inspector.

Such a rigid, top-down regime left many police demoralised, the report said, with a number taking time off or even quitting the force. Matters were made worse, it said, by denials about targets, with one officer saying they were presented as "expectations". Another told the report: "Overall, it doesn't seem to matter what type of officer you are, ie number of complaints (or lack of), how you are as a person, if you try your best. All it comes down to is what boxes you manage to tick. This all seems very wrong and demoralising. It also causes people unnecessary worry, including not wanting to come to work."

The report also warns that a target-led culture could bring unethical behaviour, with the fiddling of statistics described as "rife". Police deemed to be underperforming are put on so-called action plans, according to the survey. One officer said almost one-third of his colleagues were subject to such sanctions. .

While the study does not specifically mention it, there will be concerns that any regime geared towards encouraging routine stop and searches could adversely affect non-white communities, which tend to be disproportionately affected by the tactic.

The strongly worded report is another blow to the embattled force, which is reeling from May's decision to order a public inquiry into the undercover infiltration of political groups, including surveillance of the family of Stephen Lawrence, and the plebgate affair, in which wa diplomatic protection officer was jailed after he admitted lying about the incident in which Andrew Mitchell lost his cabinet post. The Met also faces funding concerns, and will next year move to a smaller headquarters after selling its Scotland Yard building in Victoria, central London.

In response, the Met said it did not "recognise the claim that we have a bullying culture". A statement said: "We make no excuses for having a culture that values performance. We have pledged to reduce crime, increase confidence and cut costs. It's a big task and we have a robust framework in place to ensure we achieve this. The public expects no less.

"We aim to be the best police force for London and are transforming the way we deliver policing in London so that we are efficient and effective and responsive to the changing needs of Londoners. This will mean more officers on the streets fighting crime in neighbourhoods and using technology that helps them to deliver more to the victims of crime and prevents others from suffering from crime in the first place.

"We are already seeing results. The latest figures show crime in London falling faster than it has for years and we know from our surveys that both public confidence and victim satisfaction is increasing month on month."