Herts officers say they’re spending too much time 'behind a desk' and not being on the streets
Officers say they spend one hour on average doing paperwork per crime
Officers from Hertfordshire Police say paperwork is taking up too much of their time, preventing them from being out on the streets and catching criminals.
We joined officers working on the frontline in Hemel Hempstead, when one PC told us it takes an average of one hour on average to record a single crime.
In some cases, this can even go beyond two hours, especially when
One PC said: “I would prefer being out and about more, responding to more crimes than doing the paperwork.
“I'd rather be active than just sit behind a desk and do the paperwork, but that is an important part of the job as well.”
Jonathan Ash-Edwards, Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire says “there is a balance to be struck” but more needs to be done to free up officer’s time behind a desk.
Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio, he said: “They can be quite bureaucratic, and they can sometimes be a little bit illogical in terms of what officers have to record. I think there's probably room for a little bit more common sense to be applied."
Adding: “My view would always be that we need to back the professionals on the front line, we need to empower them, free them up wherever possible to do the stuff we all want them to be doing, and they want to be doing themselves.
“That’s being proactive, being out on patrol, going after criminals, going after people who cause risk and harm to people in our community, and keeping our community safe.
“Overwhelmingly, you do that by being proactive in communities and not from behind the desk.”
The Home Office has been contacted for a comment.