Home Office provides another £25m for police mobile computers

Total rolled out to police officers by March 2010 will be about 30,000

30,000 devices will be rolled out

The Home Office is to provide another £25m funding to help police forces distribute 15,000 additional handheld devices, taking the total to about 30,000.

The devices – to be rolled out by March 2010 – aim to improve police efficiency by giving access to information sources such as the police national computer while officers are on the move.

"Mobile computers are absolutely critical to a modern police officer," said Ian Readhead, deputy chief constable of Hampshire, and the ACPO lead for the Mobile Information Programme.

"Having information in the right place at the right time, which is up to date and accurate, is vital to help officers with their work with the public."

This second round of funding follows a previous Home Office grant of £50m allocated in May 2008.

The allocation comes in conjunction with the publication of the government Green Paper which highlights the need to further reduce bureaucracy and paperwork for police officers and further enhance the service delivered to the public.

“We welcome the recommendations in the Green Paper concerning the additional funding and the commitment to increase the times officers spend on patrol," said Richard Earland, chief information officer at the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), which will help distribute the cash.