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8 Diversion from Formal Criminal Proceedings
8.1 Savings of Police Time
Tayside Police Force has published the findings of a review of Standard Prosecution Report ( SPR) submissions and found that it takes 45 minutes, on average, to prepare a SPR.
The total time taken for returning an offender to a Police Station and filling out a full SPR, can be considerably longer than this, particularly in more rural areas. Estimates from officers are varied but the time to fill out an FPN was generally described as 10-15 minutes. Assuming that the total time to deal with an offender and return to street duties is an hour then this is a considerable time saving for each FPN which is used instead of an SPR.
If all FPNs had, instead, been dealt with using SPRs, then this would have required roughly 2500 extra officer/hours. However not all offences which were dealt with using FPNs would have been dealt with using an SPR. There has been a reduction in SPRs for FPN offence codes of approximately 2000. The reduction of 2000 SPRs suggests that approximately 1300 FPNs might have otherwise been dealt with by giving a warning. If a warning takes 5 minutes then this gives a saving of the order of 1300 officer-hours. These figures are approximate and probably underestimate the savings, particularly in more rural areas.
The operational officers, Divisional Commanders and CTO staff all commented on the benefits accrued through time saving and 73% of the operational officers surveyed, 'Agreed' or 'Strongly Agreed' that FPNs saved them time.
8.2 Savings of COPFS time
The total number of charges for Tayside relating to offences eligible for FPNs was 6017 (Table 18), this represents a decrease of 29% from the previous year (2004-05). It is also a 24% decrease on the year before that (2003-04).
Comparing the years 2004-05 and 2005-06 in terms of percentages (Table 19), the outcomes showed an increase of 14% in the proportion of charges, which then proceeded to court. There was also a corresponding decrease in the proportion of No Proceedings. This seems to indicate that there is broad agreement, between police officers and the COPFS on the types of offences that are viewed as sufficiently serious as to merit the bringing of charges.
The breakdown of outcomes from offences eligible for FPNs for financial years 2003-04 to 2005/6 is shown below.
Table 18
Charge Instructions | FY
03-04 | FY
04-05 | FY
05-06 | Grand Total |
|---|
Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | % |
|---|
Court | 4236 | 53.2 | 3902 | 46.2 | 3615 | 60.1 | 11753 | 52.4 |
|---|
Fiscal Fine | 1062 | 13.3 | 716 | 8.5 | 324 | 5.4 | 2102 | 9.4 |
|---|
NP Further Action Disproportionate | 341 | 4.3 | 807 | 9.5 | 223 | 3.7 | 1371 | 6.1 |
|---|
Alt (Other) | 1355 | 17 | 1672 | 19.8 | 1136 | 18.9 | 4163 | 18.6 |
|---|
Merged (not prosecuted as a separate charge but included with a charge which is prosecuted) | 5 | 0.1 | 8 | 0.1 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 0.1 |
|---|
NP Charge (this charge closed as No Pro but other charge(s) prosecuted) | 195 | 2.5 | 309 | 3.7 | 135 | 2.2 | 639 | 2.8 |
|---|
Further Marking required | 55 | 0.7 | 11 | 0.1 | 31 | 0.5 | 97 | 0.4 |
|---|
NP - all other reasons | 708 | 8.9 | 1026 | 12.1 | 550 | 9.1 | 2284 | 10.2 |
|---|
Grand Total | 7957 | 100 | 8451 | 100 | 6017 | 100 | 22425 | 100 |
|---|
In comparison with the 2003-04 outcomes, the proportion of court outcomes also shows an increase, by 7%, but this corresponds largely to a decrease in the proportion of fiscal fines.
The breakdown of outcomes from offences eligible for FPNs (%) is shown below.
Table 19
Charge Instructions | FY 03-04
% of Total | FY 04-05
% of Total | FY 05-06
% of Total |
|---|
Court | 53 | 46 | 60 |
|---|
Fiscal Fine | 13 | 8 | 5 |
|---|
NP Further Action Disproportionate | 4 | 10 | 4 |
|---|
Alt (Other) | 17 | 20 | 19 |
|---|
Merged (not prosecuted as a separate charge but included with a charge which is prosecuted) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|---|
NP Charge (this charge closed as No Pro but other charge(s) prosecuted) | 2 | 4 | 2 |
|---|
Further Marking required | 1 | 0 | 1 |
|---|
NP - all other reasons | 9 | 12 | 9 |
|---|
Grand Total | 100 | 100 | 100 |
|---|
8.3 Net widening.
Evidence from interviews with COPFS, Divisional Leaders and officers in the focus groups and the e-survey suggests that some net widening has occurred. This is in the sense that some offences which formerly occasioned a warning are now dealt with by issuing an FPN. This was generally felt to be an appropriate extension of the use of FPNs, in that officers still exercised discretion and FPNs had not become a substitute for officers' judgment.
Nearly a quarter (23%) of officers responding to the e-survey agreed or strongly agreed with the statement "Most of the offenders I have given FPNs, I would previously have warned." Of the other officers who expressed an opinion, 75% indicated that some of the offenders given FPNs would previously have received a warning.
The overall response indicated that where previously officers had to consider the disruption caused to their on-the-street presence when deciding whether to occasion an arrest, it was now possible to evaluate the seriousness of an offence on its own merits.
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