Police Officers are having to spend up to two hours completing paperwork following stop-and-searches which result in small amounts of cannabis being found.
Often, these searches come about following routine stops where officers have had occassion to speak to someone and then suspect them of being in possession of a controlled substance such as cannabis.
A Police Sergeant revealed on social media that after he had issued someone with a penalty notice for being in possession of cannabis, he then was off the road for two hours filling out various bits of paperwork.
In a tweet, he said:
“A simple S163 stop. Cannabis found, PND issued.
“I needed a CAD, CRIS, 2 x stop search records, a 66 number, a 105 number, not the evidence bag number, use of force form, PND MG11,
“Over two hour work for three small wraps of cannabis!”
A ‘CAD’ will be the printout of the stop and search, as logged by the control room, a ‘CRIS’ is a crime report, a 66 & 105 number refers to the evidence being booked in back at the station, a ‘PND MG11’ is a statement that the police officer has to type out regarding the incident and an ‘A/S’ number is the ‘arrest/summons’ number.
The Officer, serving with the Met Police, was highlighting the frustration that many patrol officers feel with the mountains of paperwork which have to be completed for doing what is essentially an extremely common task.
Completing a ‘use of force’ form is now mandatory for police officers JUST for placing someone in handcuffs.
Owing to the risk of their being assaulted, officers will more-often-than not place suspects into handcuffs as they, quite rightly, will not want to run the risk of the suspect running off and/or being assaulted by the suspect.
In another tweet, the officer confirmed that he was single crewed at the time of the stop and that one of the suspects was placed in handcuffs for officer safety reasons.
Not all forces are the same when it comes to asking their officers to complete relevant paperwork for these sort of stops.
A police officer serving in Norfok can expect to spend aroud 30-40 minutes on paperwork following a similar stop.
Whereas an officer serving in Devon & Cornwall could expect to spend even less time on completing the paperwork required for such a common stop as finding cannabis on someone.
Superintendent Roy Smith, tweeting about the matter, said:
“I know the mobile technology is not yet the best but hopefully that will make it easier along with the CRIS replacement.
“I am not sure if the Met still has a reducing bureaucracy lead….This sort of thing doesn’t help inspire productivity”.
Nick Hurd, Minister for Policing & the Fire Service, said:
“Good example of what I want to get from the Front Line review – specific examples of situations where front line officers feel that the rules are daft and stop them using their valuable time in more productive ways!
“Thank you @WhiskyPS. More please!”
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