Gordon Brown delivered a promise to supply police with new technology to fight crime and reduce paperwork as he addressed members of the Association of Chief Police Officers at their annual conference in Manchester on Tuesday.
He said that the police needed more devolved budgets, backed up by real-time local data and third-sector support, to give local people more up-to-date information about crime and policing in their area.
"We must do everything to give you the resources, especially the new technology you need to fight crime: technology to protect officers, including tazers; mobile data devices which cut down the need for officers to return to the station to fill out paperwork; and technology which does both — helps fight crime and reduce paperwork — like number-plate recognition and head cameras."
The government has appointed HM chief inspector of constabulary Sir Ronnie Flanagan to lead an independent review of the police service. The review will make recommendations on:
- how the service can reduce bureaucracy and promote better business processes;
- how progress on neighbourhood policing can be sustained and brought into the mainstream;
- how to ensure the public drives local policing priorities and improve local involvement and accountability; and
- how the service can manage its resources effectively to deliver on future challenges.
In line with the review, Brown invited forces and officers to offer suggestions on how the police could meet these objectives. He said: "I have asked Sir Ronnie this week to work with you to identify those innovations that will really make a difference, both in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, and, while always ensuring safeguards to build people's trust and confidence in new technology, get them into use quickly."
He added that he shared Flanagan's early view that a one-off exercise to cut forms would fall short of what is required, and promised that the government would support the police in the shift in culture desired by officers, "whether through new technology or working with the Crown Prosecution Service on streamlining case preparation".
An interim report on the review of the police service, which will include early recommendations on reducing bureaucracy and improving neighbourhood policing, is due to be published at the end of August. A final report will follow at the end of the year.
