ALMOST three police officers a day are swapping paperwork for street patrols - thanks to a new move to put bobbies back on the beat.

The introduction of a team of specialist "case building" administrative staff at Fulford Police Station has proved a startling success.

They have dealt with 672 hours of interviews and file preparation in their first month, releasing the equivalent of 84 police shifts for front line duties.

Senior officers say this was the equivalent of almost three extra police officers available on the streets of York and Selby everyday.

Inspector Rich Abbott said the team would soon be able to handle an even bigger caseload as it increases in size to 25.

He said: "We're dealing with paperwork all the time and as a result our work is more efficient and we're presenting files that the Crown Prosecution Service are happy with. The public will not see this unit but they will see the equivalent of almost three extra officers on the streets every day."

Chief Constable Della Cannings has already championed the case building units which are also based at Scarborough, Northallerton and Harrogate.

She has said that shifting the paperwork mountain could help put up to 70 officers back on the streets of North Yorkshire.

The case workers most commonly process people arrested for suspected offences such as theft, assault and possession of controlled drugs.

Once an officer brings the individual back to the station and prepares an initial statement, the case workers take over.

They can interview the person and prepare a file for any potential prosecution, allowing the officer to return to normal duties.

Case building teams can also help expand prosecution files when defendants plead not guilty at court.

Mr Abbott said the administrative staff are working shifts between 7am and 9pm, but analysis of busy times would help allocate resources in the future.

He said a similar unit has been employed by West Yorkshire Police for some time and a number of experienced workers had transferred across.

Updated: 10:50 Tuesday, December 02, 2003