Digital prosecution and joined up justice13th December 2011By Bev Kidd With prosecution now being conducted from laptops, and a deadline nearing for a more digital justice system, police are under pressure to move towards paperless communication, something Greater Manchester Police are achieving. The preparation and sharing of electronic case files in the criminal justice system has long been recognised as an opportunity for saving money as well as improving efficiency and speeding up case progression. The move from a frustrating manual system to an electronic one forms an important element of the Crown Prosecution Service's initiative for 'joined-up justice' which encourages cooperative information sharing. It is also central to the CPS' Transforming Through Technology (T3) programme; which is moving the service from paper-based processes to a fully digital way of working. With a deadline of April 2012 for delivering a more digital criminal justice system, the pressure is on for police forces to move towards this vision of paperless communication. In his address to the London Justices' Clerks' Society in March, Keir Starmer, QC, director of public prosecutions said: "It is high time for the electronic case file and electronic case management systems to become the main currency in the criminal justice system. In my view, this is one of the most important transformational developments that we have within our grasp." Greater Manchester Police has been progressing towards a 'digital working' environment since 2002, when its custody management system was introduced. Following the successful implementation and operation of the electronic custody system, a case file build system was designed to enable all the associated documentation for a case to be captured electronically. In 2008, after further development, the force started successfully sending pre-charge, post-charge and summons files electronically to the CPS. The next phase on the path towards paperless communication, and one which will have a major impact on all parties, has been the development of a two-way interface with the CPS. When this goes live in November 2011, all CPS case file memos, action plans and charging decisions will be returned directly into the police case file system. There are multiple benefits to this, the primary ones being:
A pilot involving all criminal justice partners recently commenced at Trafford Magistrates Court. The pilot involves the use of an electronic file for streamlined guilty plea cases. The CPS is prosecuting from a laptop computer and there are computer terminals in the court room for use by the legal advisors and the defence. The probation service also receive the file electronically from the CPS in appropriate cases. Whilst in its early days, the pilot has demonstrated the ability of all agencies to work from a digital file and it is envisaged that a rapid roll-out will follow across all Greater Manchester Courts. The two-way interface will be introduced as the next building block towards the fully electronic file, allowing the police in the future to send the CPS a link to digital material they hold eg. CCTV evidence. Although we are yet to make an assessment on actual cost savings we believe these will be considerable for everyone. Last year we processed over 70,000 prosecution files through ICIS so the reduced printing and copying alone of files will realise hundreds of thousands of pounds in savings. The NPIA has identified GMP as one of the 'top 4' exemplar forces in respect of our readiness to move to fully digital criminal justice working by April 2012 and we are also flagged as early adopters for the National CJS Efficiency programme. Our project has succeeded because of the collaboration with the CPS and courts in our collective drive for criminal justice efficiency and we look forward to more initiatives that will enable processes to be streamlined further, reduce bureaucracy and, overall, make the system faster and more efficient for all concerned. Bev Kidd is a police sergeant at Greater Manchester Police |
