POLICE in the force area covering Plymouth spent more 

than a third of their time  pen-pushing and training

last  year - instead of being out on the  beat

fighting crime.

Latest Home Office figures reveal that officers in Devon

and  Cornwall spent only 60.8 per  cent of their time

on frontline  duties in 2006/7, including making

arrests.

This compares to 2005/6 when  officers spent 63 per cent

of their  time on frontline duties – meaning they spent

less time last  year out on patrol than during  the

previous 12 months.

However, the official government data masks the total 

amount of form-filling because  the Home Office's

definition of  front-line policing includes time 

spent on “incident-related” paperwork.

This includes writing up arrest  reports and case files,

which  takes upon average 8.6 per cent  of an

officer's frontline duty  time.

A separate stack of non-incident  related paperwork is

carried out  when officers are off frontline  duties,

such as dealing with  complaints, organising truancy 

sweeps, community policing activities, and management

issues.

Non-frontline duties also include time spent at court,

crime  prevention activities, custody  duties,

operational planning  and call handling duties.

West Yorkshire Police officers  spent the most amount of

time  on the frontline (76 per cent) in  2006/7,

while Cleveland Police  spent the least amount of

time  on frontline duties last year  (56.1 per

cent).

Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve condemned the figures

saying: “Even using this  dubious Government measure 

of the use of police time -  Labour's red-tape means

officers are spending a pitiful  amount of time on the

beat.”

Liberal Democrat home affairs  spokesman Chris Huhne

said:  “Successive governments have  vowed to cut

police bureaucracy  but officers remain tangled in a 

web of red tape.”

Last month the Government unveiled plans to give police 

greater freedom from red tape  and targets.

All but one of the force targets in  England and Wales

will be  scrapped under the Green Paper reforms, while a

further £25  million will also be spent on  hand-held

“mobile data devices”  to help cut paperwork.

 Prime Minister Gordon Brown  said the measures

would mean  more visible policing on the 

streets.

A Home Office spokesman said:  “Proposals in the recent

Policing  Green Paper will cut red tape  and top-down

targets, freeing  the police to focus on the most 

serious crime and on local issues.

 “There will be a new enhanced  role for Her

Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC)  to robustly

and transparently  scrutinise police performance  and

Jan Berry has been appointed as an independent bureaucracy

champion to drive  further cuts in red tape and free 

up extra police hours.

 “An extra £25million will also be  invested in new

technology and  IT systems to help save time and 

reduce the need for officers to  return to the station to

fill out  paper work.”