Keyboard skills for coppers

Pitman Training is urging police officers to learn keyboarding skills to help them complete their paperwork more quickly.

Courses now run up and down the country which teach not just the basics of navigating around a keyboard but also help achieve a typing speed which equates with basic secretarial requirements. This level of proficiency can be achieved in as little as a month.

Michael Graham, managing director, Pitman Training said: “The inclination, or rather willingness to learn is vital. Police officers already feel bogged down by the amount of pen-pushing that comes hand-in-hand with their job, and to add to that burden with an intensive typing or IT course doesn’t make for a positive learning experience. By offering a flexible style of learning where an individual is not under pressure to keep up with the trainer or class, candidates get the most out of the course – only moving onto the next stage once they have successfully completed the current task.”

Pitman also outlined the time savings that could be achieved with just a basic keyboard course. A typical two finger typist types approximately 15 words a minute, it would take an average of 46 minutes to type up a 700 word document. An officer who had been trained to type and built up a speed of 55 words a minute (entirely possible within a few months of learning) would take just 12.7 minutes – that’s nearly half an hour of time saved.

To put this into context the amount of time freed up for actual policing is astounding. If an officer had a two finger typing speed of 15 words a minute and 31,500 words to type, it would take roughly 35 hours. An officer with a speed of 55 words a minute would complete their paperwork in 9.55 hours – less than a quarter of the time. Pitman has more than 90 training centres across the UK.