Electronic tablets to keep bobbies on the beat

SOUTH Yorkshire Police has said officers will be able to spend thousands more hours out in the community thanks to the introduction of new electronic tablets.

A total of 660 tablets have been purchased as part of a joint collaboration with Humberside police force, financed by Home Office funding and contributions by each force’s Police and Crime Commissioners.

The technology will allow officers and PCSOs to check and update police systems whilst out and about – cutting down on travel and time spent inside police stations.

At public meetings, officers and PCSOs will be able to check and log information whilst they are there, meaning a better response to queries from members of the public, the force said.

And the devices will mean an officer visiting the victim of a burglary could update, check police systems, and carry out other tasks related to the crime while they are with the victim in their front room.

Deputy Chief Constable Andy Holt said: “These tablets give our officers access to systems and information that they require to carry out their daily work such as viewing and responding to incident information, updating crime reports and victims of crime, viewing briefings and managing the investigation of vulnerable and missing people.

“I’m fully supportive of any initiative that means that police officers will spend less time in police stations and more time on the streets and in the community. As well as meaning that officers can spend more time in the communities that they serve, it means that they have all the information they need at their fingertips and can be more effective in their job.”

Future developments for the collaboration include the introduction of electronic witness statements and new systems that will map the location of every officer at any given time – meaning that they can be deployed to crimes more effectively across the force, a spokesman said.

Neil Bowles, chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation, said: “Most officers are technologically efficient these days. These devices will certainly help officers save time by not having to go back to their stations all of the time.”