A FORMER Cleveland Police officer has designed a new app to help serving officers deal with the pressures of frontline policing.

Paul Cooper, 30,who moved from Stockton-on-Tees last May, designed the Pocket Sergeant app using his own funding to provide up-to-date information, advice and procedure help for day-to-day policing.

The app was developed to help police officers, staff, special constables and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in an ever-changing world.

PC Cooper, who now works for Lincolnshire Police in Spalding, said: "The decrease in the number of full-time police officers and staff and the increase of Special Constables and volunteers has led to the call for more support and new technology to help officers on the front line.

"Pocket Sergeant aims to answer the call of modern day policing by helping to provide better time management for police officers and support staff. With its up to date information, advice, and procedure, it will help to reduce the number of questions senior police officers are faced with on a daily basis.

"I saw more and more police constables having to carry around textbooks to refer to in their job. With this app, instead they can just look at their phones for the information they need."

Mr Cooper developed the app over the course of a year with Middlesbrough-based start-up company, SockMonkey Studios.

Some of the features provided by Pocket Sergeant include definitions of offences, points to prove and whether there is sufficient evidence to charge a suspect.

Pocket Sergeant is available on Google Play and Apple stores and is priced at £3.99.