Police 'knife crime' red tape cut

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Police officers who stop suspects in the street will not have to fill in lengthy "stop and account" forms from October, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said. Instead officers will radio in the details and give those stopped a card receipt.

The measures will apply in ten areas targeted by government initiatives because of knife crime problems and nationwide from next year.

In addition, a pilot scheme under which the number of forms filled in by police has been cut by 80% will be extended to cover the knife crime zones from today.

In Staffordshire, where the pilot currently operates, officers have reduced the average time spent filling in forms from 15 minutes to two minutes, the Home Office said.

Ms Smith is due to meet senior officers from the ten areas to discuss how to implement changes.

She said: "Giving police the means to dramatically reduce form-filling bureaucracy in these ten priority areas will free up valuable officer time to further clamp down on knife crime.

"The recent Policing Green Paper set out radical plans to cut red tape to allow police to focus on the most serious crime and on local issues."

Officials predict the changes could save 580,000 hours of police time in one year, the equivalent of 320 police officers.

The ten areas involved in the schemes account for 70% of knife violence. They are: London, Essex, Lancashire, West Yorkshire, Merseyside, the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Nottinghamshire, South Wales and Thames Valley.