POLICE SPENDING MORE TIME ON PAPERWORK THAN 30 YEARS AGO

Court Rulings On Suspects' Rights Increasing Burden, Joint Study Finds

The average police officer in B.C. spends more time doing paperwork
than investigating crimes and responding to calls combined, according
to a new study of policing in the province.

The study, by researchers at the University College of the Fraser
Valley and Simon Fraser University, found that while officers 30
years ago typically spent about 90 minutes a day on administrative
tasks and writing reports, officers today spend more than four hours
on those tasks -- taking up about 40 per cent of their workday.

The main reason for the increase, the study found, has been a series
of court rulings that have strengthened the rights of criminal
suspects while increasing the administrative burden on police.

Since the Supreme Court of Canada's 1991 Stinchcombe decision, for
example, police have been required to hand over virtually all
relevant documents to the defence -- including tips, notebooks and reports.

If an investigation involves a wiretap, officers must prepare a
complete, word-for-word transcript of all recordings, even if most
are unrelated to the case.

And just one week of wiretaps can take an officer one to two months
to transcribe.

Last year, the Missing Women Task Force revealed that of the roughly
100 officers assigned to their investigation, about 10 were working
full-time on disclosing evidence to accused serial killer Robert
Pickton's defence team.

Stinchcombe is just one ruling.

Other rulings over the past 30 years have forced police to get search
warrants in circumstances where they didn't need them before, to
videotape witness statements and to provide more detailed evidence
before a wiretap is authorized.

Darryl Plecas, a criminology professor at UCFV and one of the study's
authors, said he doesn't question the wisdom of those decisions.
"They're important because they provide the safeguards that all
Canadians want to see in the system," he said.

But he said it's important to realize that the burden for following
them has fallen largely on the shoulders of police -- with no
increase in resources.

In part because of court rulings, investigations take far more time
now than they used to.

In the mid-1970s, a typical drunk-driving investigation -- from
breath sample to report to Crown -- took about an hour to complete,
the study found.

Today, it takes five hours.

And a domestic assault investigation, which used to take an hour of
police time 30 years ago, can now take anywhere from 10 to 12 hours.

And court rulings aren't the only reason investigations take longer
than they used to.

New computer systems designed to increase police efficiency have, in
many cases, eaten up as much time as they've saved, the study found.

That's because new systems require extensive training and re-training
of officers and are subject to glitches and breakdowns.

Researchers determined how present-day police spend their time by
giving officers logs in which they recorded what they were doing
throughout the day.

Figuring out how much time it took to do tasks 30 years ago was more
challenging.

To do that, researchers held a series of focus groups with veteran
officers across B.C., asking them detailed questions about how their
work has changed.

The researchers also gained access to officers' old notebooks.

"Police officers keep their notebooks forever," said Plecas. "Every
time something happens, they write it down."

The officers who participated in the study were also asked to create
"flow charts" of a typical investigation today compared with 30 years
ago, outlining the various investigative and procedural steps they
have to take.

Those charts show how court rulings and new technology have
dramatically increased the hoops officers need to jump through to
complete an investigation.

For example, over the past 30 years, the number of steps required in
a typical drug trafficking investigation has jumped to 65 from nine.

Criminal Justice Then And Now

Statistics show how the workload of Royal Canadian Mounted Police
officers in B.C. has changed from the 1960s to today:

Break-and-enters

25% Clearance rate for B.C. break-and-enter investigations in 1962

8% Clearance rate for B.C. break-and-enter investigations in 2003

Homicide

90% Clearance rate for B.C. homicide investigations in 1962

70% Clearance rate for B.C. homicide investigations in 2003

Paperwork And Procedure

40% The share of an average officer's day that is now spent on paperwork.

9 The number of procedural steps in a typical drug trafficking
investigation in the 1970s

65 The number of procedural steps in a typical drug trafficking
investigation today

Average time spent per day on administrative tasks and report writing
by a typical RCMP officer:

1975: 1.5 hours

2005: 4 hours

Source: University College of the Fraser Valley and Simon Fraser
University Vancouver Sun

Investigations Take Longer And Longer

Estimated time to complete a typical investigation (hours):

Type 1970s 1980s 1990s Now

Break & Enter 5-7 5-7 6-10 5-10

Domestic Assault Up to 1 1-2 3-4 10-12

Impaired Driving 1 2 3 5

Source: University College of the Fraser Valley and Simon Fraser University