Where a person is charged
or reported for an offence a prosecution file of evidence must be
prepared to enable the Crown Prosecution Service to present the
case in Court.
Preparation of case
papers for the initial case hearing is completed by police
officers. However should the person plead not guilty, much more
work is required to prepare a case file that the Crown Prosecution
Service can use in a trial.
In the event of a not
guilty plea, the Criminal Justice Division supports police officers
by providing staff who specialise in the preparation of prosecution
files.
Broadly these staff are
divided into two teams that deal with traffic cases or crime
cases.
These teams are headed up
by File Scrutineers, who examine the file to establish what
additional information and evidence needs to be secured before the
case goes to trial. They in turn are supported by File Preparation
Officers whose role it is to liaise with the relevant parties to
gather the information required for trial.
- In 2011 almost 2,000 full and committal prosecution files were
prepared for trial.