UK cops just spend 8-minutes an hour on patrol

London, Oct.6 : British cops spend just eight minutes an hour on patrol due to red tape, Home Office figures show. Despite Government vows to slash paperwork, police have one hour 39 minutes on the beat in a 12-hour shift, it was revealed yesterday.

A survey of 43 forces in England and Wales in 2007-8 showed only 13.8 per cent of cops' time was on patrol, down from 15.2 per cent in 2004-5.

According to The Sun, Tory MP Paul Bone gave the figures in an answer to questions.

Paul McKeever, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: "Officers say they are absolutely overburdened by bureaucracy, form-filling and sitting in front of computers when they want to be out fighting crime."

Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said: "This problem is getting worse. This is because of the number of Whitehall targets that Labour have heaped on the police."

ANI