The traditional police identity parade will be replaced by a video line-up as part of a forthcoming package of police reforms, Home Secretary David Blunkett confirmed today.

In a move to slash the amount of time officers spend on red tape, there will also be a change in the law to allow civilians to act as police station jailers and prepare cases for prosecution.

Mr Blunkett announced he is setting up a taskforce to look at other time-saving proposals, including whether police should relinquish responsibility for missing persons inquiries, lost pets and lost property.

It came as the Home Office published a study which showed officers currently spend almost as long in the station as they do on the beat.

"I am committed to removing bottlenecks in the system and the measures I am announcing today to free up officers' time are just the start," said Mr Blunkett. "Police officers are highly trained professionals with wide-ranging powers and skills.

"It is right that we should use them to concentrate on their core functions reducing crime, catching criminals and providing reassurance."

The new video ID parades are expected to be quicker and cheaper to operate, fairer to suspects and less traumatic for victims, who will no longer have to identify their attackers face-to-face.

The system, piloted in West Yorkshire, will use a database of 20-second video clips of people which can be intercut with specially-filmed shots of the suspect.

The change will require alterations to the Police and Criminal Evidence rules, which currently only allow ID parades in person.

Use of video clips is believed to introduce a lower likelihood of bias against ethnic minorities.

It is also hoped that a significant part of the £14m spent on parades each year will be saved, and police will no longer have to cancel half their line-ups for want of appropriate participants.

The extended use of civilians is likely to attract controversy because the Home Secretary is proposing to employ them in jobs which have always been the responsibility of police officers.

For example, it will raise the issue of whether civilians can be held accountable in the same way as officers if there is a death in custody.

Mr Blunkett said: "Civilian staff have a vital role to play in 21st century policing. "The use of civilians in custody roles and the introduction of prisoner handling teams to which officers could hand over those charged with less serious offences would free up the equivalent of an additional 2,000 officers a year."

An independent study, commissioned by the Home Office, charted the day-to-day workload of a police constable based on 378 "diaries" and nearly 100 in-depth interviews with officers.

The result, entitled Diary of a Police Officer, revealed constables spent just 17 per cent of their time on patrol.

Taking a prisoner into custody could take up to eight hours to complete and one police station had 105 different forms in use.

Officers spent 43 per cent of their time in the station. A fifth of this time in the station was spent on paperwork, it added.

The study made 19 recommendations which will be looked at by the taskforce to be led by the Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir David O'Dowd.

One suggestion was that other agencies should deal with some missing persons cases, and with lost animals and property.

It also proposed that other organisations should pay for jobs carried out by police which are not directly related to crime fighting for example, hospitals should pay the cost of recapturing patients who escape from secure wards.

Other ideas to be considered by the taskforce include:

1. Making shops responsible for prosecuting shoplifters although this received a lukewarm response from the Home Office, which said it would send out the wrong signals about the seriousness of the crime and be a ''disproportionate burden'' on retailers.

2. Reducing time spent on intruder alarms, 85% of which are false alarms.

3. Making greater use of technology such as laptop and hand-held computers so officers can report crimes and work on case files while out of the station.

Mr Blunkett today went "on the beat" with officers in Bedale, North Yorkshire, before unveiling the new measures.

The Government is expected to release its long-awaited White Paper on police reform within weeks.

Today's announcements on ID parades and civilians are the first official indications of its contents.

It is likely to propose far-reaching changes in areas including pay and conditions, regulation and flexible working hours.

Shortly after arriving in the centre of the North Yorkshire market town of Bedale, Mr Blunkett said: "The report that we are publishing today shows that many of those who are doing the front line job are just overwhelmed with what are diversions from the job, doing other things that we think that trained but civilian staff could actually do.

"The slimming down of paperwork, the use of up-to-date computer equipment would make an enormous difference to their job and therefore our lives."

Mr Blunkett added: "We can then actually focus on what things are needed most by the community: Tackling anti-social behaviour and being there for reassurance."

Asked whether the proposals meant a move towards a performance-related pay structure, he said: "We're not going to do a time and motions study.

"Our job is to free up their time to do their job better, to be on the beat, out of the station and visible in the village or neighbourhood."