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9th May 2011, 21:29
Criminal suspects are to be charged through the post under radical changes to free up police time, Theresa May will reveal today.
Some offenders who have been bailed by police will receive formal notices in the mail ordering them to court, to save officers having to call them back to the police station.
The move will target those charged with a range of offences including theft, criminal damage and shoplifting.
It is part of a broader move to hand police back the power to charge criminals.
The Crown Prosecution Service currently decides in all but the most minor offences whether to prosecute.
But the Home Secretary wants the balance shifting back to police with officers eventually deciding in eight out of ten offences.
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They are part of a raft of new measures Mrs May will announce in a speech in London today aimed at cutting red tape and handing more common sense powers back to officers.
But she will also admit that getting rid of police paperwork is “as hard and grinding a task” as the “pointless” form filling itself.
Others measures include giving police more discretion in how calls are prioritised.
The way crimes are recorded will be changed to cut the number of categories, saving on the level of detail officers have to collect for lesser offences and time filling in forms.
And the amount of official guidance circulated to forces by chief officers will be slashed.
Mrs May hopes the moves will save up to 2.5 million police hours a year and give officers more freedom to do their job.
She will also hope it will help cool some of the heat in the growing row with the rank and file over separate plans to reform police pay and conditions which could see some officers lose up to £4,000 a year.
Thousands of officers are also to be lost as the spending cuts bite over the next four years.
source
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8500996/Criminal-suspects-to-be-charged-through-the-post.html
Some offenders who have been bailed by police will receive formal notices in the mail ordering them to court, to save officers having to call them back to the police station.
The move will target those charged with a range of offences including theft, criminal damage and shoplifting.
It is part of a broader move to hand police back the power to charge criminals.
The Crown Prosecution Service currently decides in all but the most minor offences whether to prosecute.
But the Home Secretary wants the balance shifting back to police with officers eventually deciding in eight out of ten offences.
RELATED ARTICLES
Police pay packets 'must be cut to save jobs' 02 Mar 2011
May: necessary to reform police force 02 Mar 2011
They are part of a raft of new measures Mrs May will announce in a speech in London today aimed at cutting red tape and handing more common sense powers back to officers.
But she will also admit that getting rid of police paperwork is “as hard and grinding a task” as the “pointless” form filling itself.
Others measures include giving police more discretion in how calls are prioritised.
The way crimes are recorded will be changed to cut the number of categories, saving on the level of detail officers have to collect for lesser offences and time filling in forms.
And the amount of official guidance circulated to forces by chief officers will be slashed.
Mrs May hopes the moves will save up to 2.5 million police hours a year and give officers more freedom to do their job.
She will also hope it will help cool some of the heat in the growing row with the rank and file over separate plans to reform police pay and conditions which could see some officers lose up to £4,000 a year.
Thousands of officers are also to be lost as the spending cuts bite over the next four years.
source
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8500996/Criminal-suspects-to-be-charged-through-the-post.html