Surrey makes strides in paperless policing

While 60-70% of the forms required by officers are already in the mobile database, Surrey is continuing to add more and more functionalities.

In the future it hopes to be able to use facial recognition technology to take a photo of the person in front and check that image against the Police National Database (PND).

Additionally, the force hopes to combine efforts with the DVLA’s database, which is also in the process of reducing paper systems.

Further along the line, Surrey may invest in wireless cameras which can be placed on an officer’s person then feed back to the mobile device. This type of technology is being trialed in some forces thanks to a government innovation fund.

Clearly the more the smartphone is using its camera the more this will affect its battery life. At the moment, the devices last without charge for 11 hours which is the longest shift an officer will be on. But with more video and camera use this will drain the smartphone battery quicker, so Surrey may look into in-car charging.