§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research has been undertaken into technology required to enable officers to provide subjects of a stop and search with an immediate printed record of the incident; what information on this research is in the public domain; and what assessment he has made of the potential applications such technology will have for other aspects of police work. [29736]
§ Mr. DenhamTo date no research has been undertaken specifically on the technology required to enable police officers to issue subjects of stops and searches with an immediate printed record of the encounter.
On 1 November 2001 my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary published an independent study entitled "Diary of a Police Officer", which considered what more could be done to free police officers from the unnecessary paperwork and other obstacles which prevent them from 295W spending more time in public. Subsequently in the White Paper, "Policing a new Century" (CM 5326), published on 5 December 2001, my right hon. Friend announced the establishment of a task force, chaired by Sir David O'Dowd, to consider how to take forward the recommendations in this and other relevant reports, in order to reduce unnecessary administrative burdens on the police. The task force is considering the implementation of information technology as part of this project.