Mobile phone scheme left some police more tied up than ever Some 41,000 mobile devices, mainly Blackberry or personal data assistants, were rolled out to forces by March 2011 under the programme. It aimed to increase the time officers spend on the street by making it easier to carry out some tasks such as filing crime or intelligence reports and accessing information. But the NAO said not enough consideration was given to how the devices would be used, how much local spending was required, or how realistic deadlines were. Despite the scheme providing basic benefits, including some officers spending an extra 18 minutes a shift out of the station, this varied significantly and "value for money has not yet been achieved," it said. While most forces agreed that mobile devices gave their officers some extra time out of the station, in some cases officers were spending more than an hour-and-a-half extra in the station and away from the public each shift. It found some forces only had devices available to one per cent of officers, while in others this rose to 151 per cent. In all, 19 forces had devices available for less than half of their officers. Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said while the roll-out of mobile technology was achieved against "a tight timescale and at reasonable cost," "too little consideration was given to the need for the devices or how they would be used." "In the majority of forces, the benefits have not so far extended beyond simply allowing officers to spend more time out of the station," he said. There is still the opportunity to achieve value for money, though, if more forces use the technology to improve the efficiency of their processes and make savings in their back-office activities. Margaret Hodge, chairwoman of the Commons Committee of Public Accounts, said: "The business case for investing in mobile technology did not consider if local forces were prepared for the programme or if there was the capability and capacity to introduce it. The report highlights the challenge of making changes to technology across a police service that has 2,000 separate and bespoke ICT systems. She went on: "If value for money is to be achieved, mobile technology will need to be used to drive improvements that will reduce paper work and make police work more efficient."