Up to 80 per cent of police time goes on paperwork

Date published: 21/05/2007

Police officers in Greater Manchester spend an average of 3,246,383 hours completing paperwork each year — equivalent to 135,266 days.

The latest figures show that almost a fifth of an officer’s time (19.3 percent) is eaten up by filling in forms.

There are 8,167 officers in the Greater Manchester Police force working an average of 2,060 hours each year with 397.5 hours spent on paperwork.

Rochdale Liberal Democrat Euro-MP Chris Davies says that officers tell him that in reality the figure is often much higher, adding: "Forget the figures and listen to the people who are actually filling in the forms.

"Police officers tell me that as much as 80 per cent of their time can be spent completing the mountains of paperwork. It’s a scandalous waste of time and public resources, and it leaves police officers feeling demotivated and cynical."

Although Mr Davies says that he understands the need for accurate records, he has hit out at the duplication of forms that could be replaced by modern technology.

Liberal Democrats nationally are calling for a full assessment of how the use of IT systems, voice recognition technology and hand-held equipment could free police time from form-filling. The party is also calling for civilian staff to provide greater clerical support to relieve officers from paperwork.

Mr Davies added: "Officers and the public share one very strong view in common — both want the police to be spending more time doing the work for which they are trained and less time stuck in the office."

David Whatton, deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, said: "GMP has been very successful in increasing the amount of time officers spend on front-line duties.

"A robust review of non-operational posts currently undertaken by police officers identified more than 400 posts which could potentially be civilianised, allowing officers to return to front-line duties. Many of these are in the process of being civilianised.

"The introduction of neighbourhood policing has seen an increase in visibility on the streets and we also have 764 PCSOs who are available to support front-line duties, although these are not included in the main elements of front-line percentage calculations.

"We are concerned about the of bureaucracy which can prevent officers from fighting crime and protecting people and are actively working to tackle this issue."