CRIMINALS have embraced technology to become ever more sophisticated at evading justice.

But as the wrongdoers make full use of every gadget available police have had to wage war from buildings that belong to another age.

Draughty Victorian piles with long corridors and echoing rooms with high ceilings may have been all right for the force portrayed in black and white TV series like Dixon of Dock Green. But they are not suitable for crimefighting in the 21st century.

That's why the newly opened £7.3m police station just opened at Whitebirk is long overdue.

As well as a custody suite covered by video and sound recording systems which catch every movement, the new HQ has everything you would expect, and a lot that is a surprise, in a workplace for 450 people.

One major breakthrough is a suite where crime victims can view a line-up on a TV screen compiled on a DVD. A national database with profiles of thousands of actors is tapped into to put together a selection of similar people into which the suspect is inserted.

The victim simply views the screen to make his or her decision and police don't have to waste valuable hours scouring the streets for line-up lookalikes.

But officers should not spend the extra time enjoying their comfortable new surroundings. We will expect them to be out in the community catching more criminals.