Police report calls for red tape cuts

By Avril Ormsby

LONDON (Reuters) - Many police duties could be carried out just as well by civilians, according to a report on Thursday which called for officers to be freed for frontline duties.

Civilians could staff station front desks for example and do backroom office work, Chief Inspector of Constabulary Ronnie Flanagan said in his report.

His call for the streamlining of paperwork and the introduction of technology in police "stop and account" and "stop and search" operations was later backed by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

She also supported a new standard one-page form to record crime, currently being trialled in Leicestershire, Surrey, Staffordshire and the West Midlands.

"I have formally asked Sir Ronnie to report back to me in six months on how we and the police are reducing bureaucracy," she said.

The government will publish a Green Paper on policing in the spring.

In line with Flanagan's recommendation, police will no longer have to complete a lengthy "stop and account" form. Instead, they will be able to give the person a receipt, such as a business card, and make a verbal recording of the encounter. The scheme will be tried out in three force areas.

Police will still have to document every "stop and search" -- a more invasive procedure -- but it will be streamlined and officers will pilot a scheme for officers to be given hand-held data terminals allowing them to complete forms electronically, she said.