Surrey Police wants to see improved policing practices

Bob Quick, head of Surrey Police, said only between 10% and 20% of officers' time was spent on "higher order tasks which are vital to public confidence".

"On average, 30% of officers' time is spent on bureaucracy or clerical work," Surrey Police said in a statement.

The force wants to give more administrative tasks to support staff.

Police reform agenda

It said this would leave constables "more time to concentrate on the arrest and prosecution of offenders, investigations, responding to incidents, crime prevention and working with the community and other agencies to deliver lasting solutions to local crime problems".

"...A large proportion of officer time is spent on tasks which could effectively be undertaken by trained support staff under the supervision of a constable," the statement said.

"These are tasks that constables are trained to do to a high standard."

Surrey Police said the force was working closely with the Home Office and nine other forces to develop new ways of working in line with the government's police reform agenda.

The comments come a week after Nottinghamshire's chief constable, Steve Green, said his force was not able to cope with the number of murders in the county because of the administrative workload faced by officers.