By Jackie Storer BBC News Online political staff, in Bournemouth

Red tape, paperwork, bureaucracy - call it what you will - but it is the one aspect of their job police officers claim is keeping them from the real work of fighting crime.

I love my job. I love serving the community, but I can't do that job all the time I am snowed under by form filling

PC Dave Bennett

For PC Tony Lawlor, 36, a response team officer, based in Tower Hamlets and PC Dave Bennett, 44, a community officer in Dagenham, the inputting of crime reports has a serious impact on their time on the streets.

The two officers, who have 37 years service between them, claim the average eight hour shift is dominated by answering emails and filling crime reports on different computerised systems.

Their working day will start with an overhead projector briefing, where officers are told where crimes have taken place over the previous 24 hours.

Emails

They are also given information about suspects they need to look out for and any calls that should be treated urgently.

Officers are then encouraged to log on to their email system, where if they have been on a three or four day break away from the office, it is not unusual to find upwards of 50 messages.

PC Lawlor said: "You have to log on. It is a disciplinary offence not to. There could be a warning for you to attend court to give evidence or a statement that needs your signature. You have to prioritise how you answer them."

PC Bennett said: "It has taken me about three hours, responding to emails. That is a massive amount of time to spend."

Officers have to individually check out any vehicle they plan to take out as it is their responsibility once it is signed for.

All night inputting data

They can be subject to emergency calls or be tasked with addressing problems in the community - like complaints about youngsters smoking drugs.

PC Lawlor said: "Every time you arrest someone for a crime, you have to complete a report about it.

"On a busy late turn where you have attended call after call on the road, you can return to the station with reports to fill in. You can spend all night inputting data.

"When you fill in a statement form, the details don't move on to the next form - you have to re-enter the details on computer.

"You have about 20 sheets to go through. If you don't put in the grid reference of an address in relation to a post code, it will kick you back.

"It is all done for statistics, but it doesn't help us."

Snowed under

PC Bennett said: "It used to take me 10 minutes to write a crime sheet. It will take me 45 minutes to fill it in on screen.

"If we have done a tape recorded interview, we have to sit and listen to the tape and transcribe it on to paper for the Crown Prosecution Service.

"Why are we as police officers having to take time to do this?"

PC Bennett said it once took an officer eight hours to list the property that had been onboard a lorry that was stolen.

PC Lawlor admitted: "Now if you go to a burglary, you say can you list your lost property and send it in to the crime desk."

If there are juvenile offenders involved, the officers say more forms have to be filled in for the CPS, probation service, youth and community teams and social services.

PC Bennett argued: "I love my job. I love serving the community, but I can't do that job all the time I am snowed under by form filling."