Can tablets change the way we run our Police Force?

Not too long ago, it was unthinkable that environmentally-friendly police vehicles would be rolled out across the UK – this is a trend that is set to continue and one that is doing well.

Now, it seems that the use of tablets as part of ordinary every-day policing work is set to become “the norm”, too.

In a £500k project, Staffordshire Police are rolling a scheme to utilise tablets within the force in a bid to save time and money, as well as increasing overall efficiency.

The scheme is due to start in March and Matthew Ellis, police and crime commissioner, stated to the local press that it will "fundamentally transform” policing.

By utilising tablet technology, Ellis claimed that inputting data would take less time – as well as accessing information. In fact, so much time that it would be equivalent to 5000 hours every week, which would pay for an extra 100 police officers.

Ellis explained that officers on the front line spend six out of ten hours in the community rather than at their station bases; when tablets are introduced, this is likely to increase to nine hours.

Ellis said;

"It's about police being given more time to do what they want to be doing and what the public want them to be doing, which is out-and-about policing."

He believes that using mobile technology will help to reduce record inaccuracies, and save a vast amount of time as statements would be “written” on tablets and uploaded onto a central server, effectively taking out the need to take down paper statement and transcribe them later on six systems.

Ellis continued;

"It's not what you'd expect in nearly 2015. So a radical overhaul of the way technology is used, the way it works, will fundamentally improve policing and get more police out and about for more of the time."

Investigators will also be issued with tablets but at this stage, it is not confirmed what type of tablets will be offered – what we do know is that the Police IT overhaul is expected to cost £46 million, spread over the next seven years.

What do you think of Staffordshire Police’s new policy? Is it right to ditch the paperwork and what if things go wrong? Let us know your thoughts on Twitter and Facebook – we would love to hear from you!