A new year, a new way of working

03/01/2006

The police and the CPS today launched the 'statutory' Charging scheme in Derbyshire - 'the biggest single step change in criminal justice in a generation'.

Under the scheme sole responsibility for charging criminal suspects has now transferred from the police to the CPS, in all but the most minor and straightforward cases. 

Since November 2003 the police and CPS in Derbyshire had successfully operated a shadow Charging scheme whereby CPS lawyers advised police officers on the most appropriate charge to bring.  However, under the statutory scheme CPS Duty Prosecutors will work directly with officers, reviewing the evidence gathered throughout the investigation, providing one to one consultations and advice on the case and then determining the charge the defendant is to face.

Duty Prosecutors are based in all four of the county's police charging centres between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday.  At all other times police officers must contact CPS Direct, the national out-of-hours phone service operated by a team of Duty Prosecutors working from home on a shift system.

Brian Gunn, Chief Crown Prosecutor for Derbyshire said: "The roll out of this new scheme in Derbyshire reflects a huge amount of effort and joint working by both police and CPS staff. 

"Involving the CPS in criminal investigations at the earliest opportunity will help to ensure that all the necessary evidence is gathered before a defendant is charged.  This will enable us to build a stronger prosecution case and determine the correct charge right from the outset. 

"We will also be in a position to identify those weak cases without a realistic prospect of conviction and make sure they're not pursued, only to be discontinued once at court due to lack of sufficient evidence.  Weeding out these cases as soon as possible will avoid unnecessary waste of police, CPS and court time.

"The introduction of the Charging scheme in Derbyshire is one of the most important changes to take place in the criminal justice system in recent years.  We now need to look ahead and build on the successes we've achieved so far in order to bring more offenders to justice and provide an improved and more effective service for victims and witnesses."

Chief Inspector Kevin Lea, Derbyshire Constabulary's Custody Manager, said: "This is a positive development that should reduce the number of cases that are discontinued when they reach court.  Police officers and staff will be working more closely with the CPS to ensure the quality of prosecution files."