THE North Yorkshire Police Authority has welcomed moves by the Home Secretary to help officers spend more time on the streets and less coping with red tape.

But the authority's chairman said extra government cash would be needed if forces were to increase their use of technology to improve efficiency.

The Home Office has announced an action plan with 52 recommendations, which arose following a report from a task force set up to look at the problem of how police officers' time is spent.

The recommendations include moves to halve the number of forms most used by police officers.

Cutting the amount of time police officers have to spend waiting at courts, and considering letting them have the powers to give suspects "street bail"are among other recommendations.

The task force was established following some Home Office work, which found that 43 per cent of officer time was being spent inside the police station, and only 17 per cent on patrols.

Welcoming the announcement by Home Secretary David Blunkett, North Yorkshire Police Authority chairman Jane Kenyon said: "We welcome this initiative warmly - it has to be right. Day in, day out, the public are telling us that they want to see more police officers in their communities.

"Cutting out unnecessary bureaucracy will allow the Chief Constable to deploy officers more effectively in the fight against crime and the fear of crime.

"To maximise its effect, the Home Secretary's plan will also need the support of all the agencies with which the police work, such as the courts.

"I am confident that everyone will pull together to ensure that officer time is used even more effectively in the future."

But Coun Kenyon said: "I'm concerned with the Home Secretary's suggestion that forces should further increase the use of new technology to improve efficiency. This is the right approach, but as we are already investing heavily in things like radios, any major new systems will require extra government financial support."

Updated: 11:50 Thursday, September 19, 2002