Police Scotland has revealed plans to spend more than £20 million on an “urgent” mobile technology upgrade for officers struggling to fight crime with outdated equipment.

A report from the force’s deputy chief officer David Page to the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) speculates that the total cost of the new devices and the essential support network will cost £21.6 million.

Page said that staff are operating “inefficiently” with legacy phones and they urgently need more modern devices. The initial plan is for the roll-out of 600 devices by the end of the financial year, with the full 10,000 to follow.

Speaking at an SPA board meeting, Page noted that efficiency improvements stemming from the the roll-out of upgraded mobile devices could save Police Scotland £49 million over a five-year period.

Multimillion pound savings

Furthermore, he added that the related national network infrastructure could provide further savings of £7.5 million over seven years.

Page described the investment as “absolutely critical” for officers who would be spared having to repeatedly enter data or returning to base to get more information.

He said: “Our communities will see our officers in their space much more frequently, our officers won’t be travelling back to their bases, will be given better information to do their job.

“It’s a huge enabler for officers to become much more productive and much more visible in their communities.

“The investment in the national network is what we need to do to stop our systems from creaking and going out of date, but also to allow them to support mobility.”

Elaine Wilkinson, SPA finance committee chair, said: “We don’t take investments of this level lightly without looking at the benefits.

“We need to ensure that we don’t just understand how much we’re spending but the reality of the returns that we’re getting on that.”