Coppers to fight crime with handhelds

TWENTY-SEVEN POLICE forces across the UK will be receiving enough funding to buy 10,000 handheld computers, according to Tony McNulty, Britain's Policing Minister.

The move is supposed to allow coppers to spend more time on the street, getting tough on crime, duffing up criminals and less time doing paperwork.

"We are investing in new technology to make crime fighting more effective and to save officers' time," said McNulty. This is just, "one element of a range of improvements… to cut unnecessary bureaucracy, exploit new technologies and enable police officers to spend more time on front line policing."

But only 27 of Britain's police forces will be lucky enough to be getting their hands on the funding.

Ironically, to be eligible for the money which will supposedly slash bureaucracy, the forces were asked to fill in endless application forms detailing everything from how they would manage procurement, staff training and ensuring that the technology and infrastructure were in place and in operation by either September 2008 or March 2009. Wonder how many officers were pulled off the front line to work on that, eh?

Still, Richard Earland, Chief Information Officer at the NPIA reckons now, " officers who have access to databases, such as the Police National Computer, command and control and intelligence systems while out on patrol, will spend less time returning to the station and more time on the frontline".

Hmmm…. We'll believe it when we see it. µ