BETTER use of technology and new devices should keep Dorset Police officers and support staff working in the community for longer.

Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner, David Sidwick, said he had been told by a long-service community support officer that she used to spend 70 per cent of her time in the community and 30 per cent in the office, filling in reports –  but in recent years the figures had reversed with less time spent out and about.

“That is something we have got to do something about,” the commissioner told a meeting of the county-wide police and crime panel.

He said that a roll-out of new IT equipment should help both PCSO staff and police officers spend more time in the community, being able to fill in some reports ‘in the field’ on mobile devices, rather than having to return to an off-based computer to do so.