Nearly £1.5 million is to be spent on new iPads for bobbies

Monday 13 June 2016

Jersey police officers are set to be handed new iPads as part of a drive to free up their time for other duties.

Senior officers are to equip officers with the must-have mobile devices, making it quicker and easier for police to write up notes, file reports and check paperwork without spending hours at their desks.

Home Affairs Minister Kristina Moore told yesterday's Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel that the cost, £1.44m, would be borne out in increased time for officers to spend on other aspects of crime-fighting and prevention. 

When asked by the panel how the move to Jersey’s new custom-built police station next year is progressing, Deputy Moore said: “We are in the process of creating a more efficient police force with more modern practices. 

“One of these is the introduction of a mobile data tablet which officers can use while on duty and which should save them considerable time. At the moment, officers have to handwrite out a witness statement at the police station, before going out on duty again. This will effectively end that practice and will free the officers up for other essential duties.

“The devices will significantly enhance what the police do, keeping them out on the street as a visible presence, rather than being called back into the office to complete paperwork.

“If you consider the time that it takes to handwrite statements and then to duplicate those statements, in future they will be able to automatically put that into a handheld device and send that back to the office instantly. It will save considerable time.”

Her comments came during a hearing of the panel, in which she outlined the project as an “invest-to-save” opportunity.

The panel heard that the project to build a new police station off Green Street roundabout was progressing on time and on budget. Officers who are currently situated at a number of stations across the island will start to move into their new purpose-built HQ in January, a switch which will be completed by March 2017.