Lothian and Borders Police are to use hand-held computers

Lothian and Borders Police are to replace their traditional police notebooks with electronic handheld pads in a ground-breaking move.

The force will become the first in Scotland to roll out the technology.

The new notebooks will enable police offices to download information onto a computer. Police said it would cut down drastically on time spent on paperwork.

The personal digital assistants (PDAs) will also allow road policing officers to issue fixed penalty tickets at the roadside and for this information to be sent electronically to the Central Ticket Office.

This will reduce the time for processing fixed penalty tickets from one week to a few hours.

As PDAs are fully encrypted the information can also be used in court. A full training programme is scheduled to run until August by which time around 300 police officers will be trained.

Operational officers from the Road Policing Branch and Community Patrol Officers from the west of Edinburgh will be the first to use the new system.

Chief Constable, Paddy Tomkins, of Lothian and Borders Police, said: "Excellent benefits are being realised by the introduction of the electronic notebooks.

"It is estimated that the time saved from using the PDAs equates to gaining an extra 30 officers for 6 months.

"Had this system been used in 2005 for recording crime and vehicle accidents this would equate to a saving of �800,000 in officer time."

Police notebooks are being replaced by hand-held computers

Justice Minister, Cathy Jamieson said: "We want to see more valuable police time spent on visible, frontline policing not on paperwork.

"The roll out of the PDA system from today is a major step forward in harnessing new technology to make policing more efficient.

"It provides significant benefits to individual officers, as well as the force, wider criminal justice system, and above all to the general public.

"Most importantly, PDAs will substantially reduce the time which an officer has to spend on paperwork in the office.

"This will increase the amount of time which an individual officer can spend out in the community by at least one hour, per shift, per day."

The roll out is in response to the Scottish Executive's plans to reform the criminal justice system, to make greater use of technology and to deliver a more efficient and effective policing service.