Scots police add robo-reporting

The Strathclyde Police force has gone live with an automated report filing system that allows officers to file reports from their handsets or mobile phones, reducing time spent on paperwork.

The Scottish force has been using the digital dictation system, VoiceForms from WinScribe, since February.

Officers calling in can select the appropriate type of form, such as for car theft, and follow a series of prompts to fill it in. All the information is digitally recorded and joins the transcription queuing system.

"It's really helped us manage the report system, so that when an officer wants to know where his report is we can look it up on the system and tell him," said Sylvia Bannigan, project management officer at Strathclyde Police.

With officers no longer needing to go back to the station to file reports, they can spend more time on the beat.

"VoiceForms can be completed while at a scene or on the move, freeing officers from onerous desk-based paperwork," said Philip Vian, managing director of WinScribe Europe.

According to Bannigan, it took just over a week to install the software, with most of this time spent inputting details from the personnel database to ensure that only authorised officers, of which there are 5,500, could use the system.

The system automatically stamps the form with the time and date. The automated prompt will also ask new questions, depending on previous answers.

Officers have readily taken to the VoiceForms system, said Bannigan.

"After a short training course, they've been up and running," she added.