Hi-tech tool that helps police to fight crime

A GADGET has helped police officers in West Yorkshire spend more time on the beat.

Officers are believed to have saved themselves from 33,000 hours of admin a year thanks to the introduction of hand-held computers.

The force is planning to upgrade all of the mobile phone-sized data devices to display electronic stop and search forms.

Around 3,500 officers have so far been equipped with the computers as part of a roll out which began in 2008 and has gathered pace over the past 12 months.

The portable devices, which can also be used as phones, can be linked to databases such as the such as the Police National Computer.

This allows officers to access the latest information while on patrol such as fresh details about crimes and newly uploaded photos of suspects.

A police spokesman said: “It is believed giving them finger tip access to such information while on the streets will continue to make it harder for suspects to avoid arrest or to try and mislead officers if they have committed an offence.”

The mobile data device programme is being rolled out nationally by the National Policing Improvement Agency on behalf of the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Chief Inspector Steve Thomas of Airedale and North Bradford Police, who is managing the project for the Force, said: “As the force progresses with the project the idea is that the devices will become ‘an office in the palm of your hand’ making this investment in technology a real investment in improving efficiency and improving our ability to fight crime.

“They might look like mobile phones but these devices are actually 21st century policing tools for which the force has received national acclaim at the British Computer Society awards.”