The Relationship Between the Police and CPS

Until 1986 in criminal justice system the decision whether or not to prosecute was the responsibility of the police. In making this decision they were able to call on legal advice either from their own prosecution department or from private sector solicitors. In 1980 31 of the 43 police forces in England and wales had their own prosecution solicitors departments.

The police not only investigated offences but also took the decision whether or not they should be prosecuted was unacceptable. When the matter was examined by the royal commission on criminal procedure and the police should retain responsibility for investigation of offences but that after charge a prosecutor should take over the conduct of the case and decide whether or not to proceed as charged or to change or withdraw the charge . the royal commission’s recommendations were largely accepted by the government at this time and the prosecution of offenders act 1985 established a cps headed by the DPP in England and wales are divided into areas each with a chief crown prosecutor who is responsible for supervising the operation of the cps in that area.

The prosecution of offenders act 1985 set up a system and it is the duty of the cps to take over proceedings instituted by the police. In this situation the police remained responsible for initiating the prosecutions led some commentators to doubt whether it would be easy for them to be truly independent of the police one reason being that once the defendant is charged some prosecution momentum is established and in the early days of the cps seemed to confirm that that these concerns were well founded in criminal justice system.

The government considered changing the law so that the cps would assume the responsibility for charge. Cps charging pilots were run in several areas and evaluations showed according to the government’s white paper that involving the cps in charging decision improved the quality of the police investigation and helped to identify weak cases earlier that they could either be dropped or further investigations be carried out to improve the evidence. With this reason provisions were included in the criminal justice act 2003 for the police to refer cases to the cps for them to decide whether and what to charge in all but the most minor cases.

In recent years the crown prosecution service (CPS) has been given enhanced role in the criminal justice process in England and Wales. It must be recognised that the crown prosecution service (CPS) is not the only organisation with powers of prosecution in criminal process in England and Wales. There are also a number of regulatory bodies that may prosecute offenders in areas of their regulatory responsibility in criminal process.

Jean Charles de Menezes was a Brazilian national citizen who was shot in the head several times at a close range by the police at Stockwell underground station. The London Met police identified him as a suicide bomber about to detonate a device on the London Underground at Stockwell tube station. Just after Menezes entered a train one of the unnamed officers shot him dead and the train was still at the platform. I don’t understand that he wasn’t actually challenged its either in the street or on the bus and the police actually put others life at risk as well by start shooting Charles menezesin the closed conditions in a train.

In Menezes shooting none of the officers didn’t face any disciplinary charges and the decision made by the CPS was brought under the health and safety at work act 1974 because there was insufficient evidence to prosecute any of the officers the CPS decision was disappointed and the CPS.

Menezes family wasn’t informed about his killing until the next day by the London Met police and CPS have only communicated their decision to the media only before providing the family with any warning that a decision was about to be made. One of the cps principles is the look after the victims as well as informing them about the case for further police and cps did not fallow their rules and the regulations well.

The decision made by the Crown Prosecution Service marks another low point in appalling way the British legal system has dealt with the killing of Menezes. At the inquest the jury found that Jean was not lawfully killed rejected the police’s versions of those events and found that the police lied.

It almost exactly ten years from the publication of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry today’s decision makes it clear that there has been no progress in achieving any sense of a decent system of police accountability in the UK and while the shoot to kill policy remains in place another family could go through the same horrendous ordeal as the Menezes family. Many other countries established gun control and they were unable to defend themselves it was actually exterminated and a number of people lost their lives at the hand of their own government.

The met police stated in their report that Menezes was a illegal immigrant but he wasn’t a illegal immigrant Menezes was perfectly entitled to be in the UK. The police point was here misinformation to blacken Menezes name and loses him sympathy it actually clearly worked positively on public also whether Menezes was a illegal immigrant or not it is completely irrelevant Menezes was a innocent man killed by the London Met police.

It influenced on public in a negative way and protests and demonstrations was held in the UK and Jean Charles Menezes campaign was founded by Menezes friends and family of Menezes the reason was that to find out all the truth about Menezes death and to bring all those people to justice who were responsible for Menezes death as well as putting a pressure on government to end the (shoot to kill) policy.

In the process of case construction the independency of the cps is limited because if cps reliance on the police for information to much cps cannot realistically go through all the paper work or listen to all taped interviews its organizational position CPS on the same side of the adversarial system. Clearly prosecution decisions are taken in a working context that brings the CPS into contact not just with the police but also with victims and magistrates. In criminal justice system the decision made by the CPS and has a huge impact on everybody experiencing the Criminal Justice System (CJS) whether they are witnesses, victims or defendants.

They determine what happens to the police work and of other investigative agencies in CJS and effectively they determine the workload of the courts. It is very important for the CPS to help significantly to achieving the broad aims of the CJS.

With policy changes and act it improves the relationship between the police and CPS as they have to tackle the problem. The police have to rethink about policies around deploying firearms officers in which they stopped a suspect because of that along with the need to restore public confidence and improve public safety in England and Wales.

The CPS should be a independent prosecution body in CJS with its own offices, with its own staff and taking decisions of the appropriate charges in criminal cases as well as prosecuting criminal cases in Courts.

In England and Wales many victims and witnesses do not normally receive the level of information and support that they need when they participating in criminal justice process and this must change the CPS and the Police has a responsibility to ensure that victims and witnesses feel safe and able to give evidence in court process. Giving a evidence at court that can actually make anyone lose courage or confidence. Victims and witnesses have a right to get all the supports they need from the Police and the CPS. In England and Wales only 19% of witnesses felt that they had been kept properly informed about progress of the case in court stage