Johnson plans to cut red tape and save 200,000 police hours

Alan Johnson wants to slash red tape in bid to cut time police spend filling in forms
Ben Bailey12 April 2012

Home Secretary Alan Johnson will today announce plans to slash police red tape by cutting the size of the stop and search form.

In a speech to the Police Superintendents' conference Mr Johnson will pledge to "radically slim down" the form to save police time.

The number of entries officers are required to fill in when they stop a suspect but do not arrest them could be drastically reduced from more than 10 now to just two or three.

Police will still have to record the ethnicity of the person stopped and the reason why.

But other details, such as what was found, the registration of any vehicle involved, and if any property was damaged during the search, would be dropped.

Officials predict the changes could save officers up to 200,000 hours every year.

Following a pilot scheme the measures are likely to be included in the upcoming Policing, Crime and Private Security Bill.

Mr Johnson will say: "Over the last few years, we've made huge efforts to cut the laborious and unnecessary paperwork that chains police officers to their desks.

"Currently, regardless of whether someone who is stopped and searched is arrested, police officers still have to fill in the form.

"It's obviously essential to record the ethnicity of the person who is stopped and the reason they were stopped, so if they wish to make a complaint because they think they were unfairly treated, their complaint can be properly considered.

"But there should be no need for the police to record anything further.

"In the forthcoming Policing, Crime and Private Security Bill, we will take the first steps towards radically slimming down the form for such incidents."

The change is the latest in a series of moves aimed at increasing the amount of time officers can spend not doing paperwork.

Over the last 18 months ministers have scrapped a longer stop and account form and the requirement for officers to fill in a form explaining how they spent every 15 minutes of their shift.

Mr Johnson is also expected to address the debate over political involvement in policing.

Yesterday Britain's most senior officer Sir Paul Stephenson told the conference, in Warwick, that operational decisions were "ours alone" and added that "no sensible politician would think otherwise".

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner called for an "appropriate space between policing and politics".

A row broke out earlier this month when deputy London Mayor Kit Malthouse said he and Boris Johnson had their "hands on the tiller" of the force.

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