POLICE officers are to be issued with hand-held computers following a Government grant of more than £840,000.
Durham Police is one of 25 forces across the country to benefit from a multi-million pound device designed to cut red tape and keep bobbies out on the streets.
Officers in Hartlepool have already been issued with the computers in a pilot scheme
for Cleveland Police following a £1m investment.
The first of 50 rugged push-button computers will go operational before the end of March next year with 100 more expected to be in the hands of response officers and beat teams before the end of September.
An additional 80 will be made available to road policing units within 18 months.
The cash will also cover the costs of installing de-mountable computers in 65 police vehicles by next autumn that will offer the same state-of-the-art technology.
In the first year all the computers – whether hand-held or vehicle mounted – will give officers speedy access to the police national computer; quick address and voter register details; the force's intelligence system and satellite navigation facilities.
By the second year the expanded capability of the system will provide access into the DVLA's licence and photographic records; command and control; emails and the police national legal database.
Chief Inspector Ian Butler, the force's business change manager, said a dozen hand-held computers had been successfully trialled by front-line officers in Darlington during a three-week pilot scheme that ended in early December.
"The new issue equipment allows officers out on the street to get information from the force's computer systems without having to return to the office and, at the same time, further reduces bureaucracy by enabling them to directly input details.
"We will be constantly evaluating the introduction of these new computers to ensure the technology not only delivers business benefits but builds an ever improving service to the people of County Durham and Darlington," he said.
By the end of March 2010 nearly a third of operational officers will have access to the new computers under the Government funded deal.
Cash for any extended use of the equipment to remaining front-line personnel would have to be found by the force.
