A BUSINESS improvement programme developed by a North-East university academic is helping a police force cut through red tape.

The University of Sunderland said the Process Improvement through Strategic Objectives (Piso) scheme has revolutionised Northumbria Police's quality checks and custody office procedures.

The programme, devised by Professor David Deeks, can be taught to anyone with a basic understanding of business in only a few hours.

It provides a means of solving organisational problems that can make working life frustrating.

Using data flow diagrams, Piso allows managers to see how their strategic objectives can be achieved.

Peter Dent, a community inspector at Sunderland Area Command, who attended two Piso courses at the university, said he could immediately see where improvements could be made.

"Piso is a revelation in every sense of the word," he said. "It allowed us to quickly visualise the current system with all of its faults, then to represent it in a way that was easily understood by non-Piso trained colleagues.

"As a result of the Piso method, the force has developed an incident management model, and now has a whole new way of dealing with low-level incidents.

"This model is saving us time, through reduced bureaucracy, and there has been a significant reduction in public complaints."