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Area Inspection Dumfries and Galloway

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Area Inspection Dumfries and Galloway Area Inspection Dumfries and Galloway Jan 2008 CONTENTS Page No(s) Preface 3 - 4 1- Introduction 5 - 7 2 - Case Analysis 8 - 30 3- Managing Performance 31 - 33 4 - Disclosure 34 5 - Service to Victims and Witnesses 35 - 39 6 - Deaths 40 - 41 7 - Management Issues 42 - 49 8 - Relations with Criminal Justice Partners 50 - 51 9 - Equality and Diversity 52 - 53 10 - Securing Public Confidence 54 11 - Conclusions and Recommendations 55 - 56 Appendix 1 Breakdown of Statistics for Dumfries and Galloway Area 57 - 64 Appendix 2 Target Achievement 65 Analysis of Questionnaires Completed by Witnesses 66 - 68 Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Diversity Structure 69 2 PREFACE The Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland was initially created on an administrative basis in December 2003 and is part of the Scottish Government but independent of Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. The Inspectorate was placed on a statutory footing in April 2007 by the Criminal Proceedings etc (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007 (sections 78 and 79). The Inspectorate has carried out one full cycle of office inspections based on race related issues. In addition thematic reviews usually in conjunction with criminal justice partners have been undertaken as follows: ¾ Thematic Report on Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s Response on Race Issues ¾ Joint Thematic Report on the Provision of Services to Witnesses ¾ “Case Study” - a joint thematic inspection of Case Management ¾ Death Cases - A Thematic Report on Liaison in Death Cases with Particular Reference to Organ Retention ¾ Complaints Against the Police HM Chief Inspector reports directly to the Lord Advocate. All reports are published at: www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/ipis. The function of the Inspectorate is to inspect the operation of Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and make, where appropriate, recommendations that will contribute to improvement in Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service service delivery, making Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service more accountable and enhancing public confidence. All reports are submitted to the Lord Advocate and an annual report is laid before the Scottish Parliament. The Inspectorate is concerned with improvement. How outcomes and results have been achieved is examined and the identification and promotion of good practice and minimising risk is promulgated. The Inspectorate is committed to observing the Government’s policy on the principles of inspection including taking a customer focus and all reports and recommendations being evidence based. Methodology: This inspection is the first of a new programme of Area (as opposed to Office) based inspections. The new programme will see all Areas (and Crown Office) inspected on approximately a three-year period. 3 It includes a combined compliance audit, audit of corporate governance, identification of any policy/practice gaps and identification of and promulgation of best practice. In preparation for inspection ¾ Local performance information, local business and other plans and general local information were examined ¾ Local policies and protocols were reviewed ¾ 125 recently closed case files were selected for review across all categories of offence and disposal methods ¾ Contact was made with local criminal justice partners and other community bodies and specialist agencies On site ¾ Meetings were held with criminal justice partners and other bodies ¾ Interviews were held with members of staff 4 1 INTRODUCTION As stated in its business plan the Dumfries and Galloway Area covers a large geographical area in the South West of Scotland. It is the smallest Area within the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in terms of the volume of reports received and accounts for about 4% of Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service caseload. There are two Procurator Fiscals offices in the Area situated at: ¾ 44 Buccleuch Street, Dumfries (covering Dumfries and Kirkcudbright) ¾ The Sheriff Court, Stranraer The Area Management Team is based in the Dumfries office. The Area covers Sheriff Courts at Dumfries, Stranraer and Kirkcudbright with District Courts at Dumfries, Stranraer, Kirkcudbright and Lockerbie. The Dumfries Office is due to be refurbished this financial year and the relocation of the Stranraer Office is being considered. The Dumfries and Galloway Area is responsible for: ¾ Considering, and taking appropriate action, on reports in respect of crimes committed in Dumfries and Galloway ¾ Conducting related prosecutions in the Sheriff and District Courts and investigating the most serious crimes for prosecution in the Sheriff and Jury and High Courts ¾ Investigating sudden deaths which occur in the Area and conducting Fatal Accident Enquiries ¾ Investigating all complaints alleging criminal conduct by police officers in Dumfries and Galloway and conducting related prosecutions The staffing structure for the Dumfries and Galloway Area is as follows: 5 DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY AREA STRUCTURE AREA PROCURATOR FISCAL DISTRICT DISTRICT PROCURATOR FISCAL PROCURATOR FISCAL DUMFRIES AND STRANRAER KIRKCUDBRIGHT PROCURATOR PROCURATOR PROCURATOR PROCURATOR PROCURATOR FISCAL DEPUTE FISCAL DEPUTE FISCAL DEPUTE FISCAL DEPUTE FISCAL DEPUTE PROCURATOR AREA BUSINESS FISCAL DEPUTE MANAGER nd 2 YEAR TRAINEE DUMFRIES and P/T PRECOGNITION PRECOGNITION KIRKCUDBRIGHT PRECOGNITION OFFICER OFFICER OFFICE MANAGER OFFICER AREA PA DUMFRIES and STRANRAER VIA OFFICER KIRKCUDBRIGHT OFFICE MANAGER DISTRICT PA DUMFRIES AND KIRKCUDBRIGHT VIA ASSISTANT x 2 FISCAL STRANRAER FISCAL OFFICERS X 14 OFFICERS X 3 plus Temporary Fiscal Assistant 6 The Area Business Plan states that the Area’s population increased in 2006/2007 by 1%. Also highlighted in the Area Business Plan was the fact that the Area experienced a 5% increase in criminal reports received. Recent Crown Office figures1 show that in year July 2006 to June 2007 there was an increase on the previous year of 7% which is higher than the national average of 2% in the same period. The Area Business Plan also indicated that there was a 45% increase in cases initiated by petition (i.e. the most serious cases) during 2006/2007. This information would have been gathered at a specific point in time and would have reflected the change in business during the periods reviewed. Recent Crown Office figures show that for period July 2006 to June 2007 there was an increase on the previous year of 14% of cases placed on petition and an increase of 19% in net petitions (cases remaining on petition after further information received and considered) compared with national figures of 15% and 15% respectfully. The Area Business Manager indicated that this is the eighth successive year that there has been an increase in the number of criminal reports received by the Area. 1 Figures extracted 04/09/07 7 2 CASE ANALYSIS – Review of Case Marking and Processes As the main function of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is the investigation and prosecution of crime a major focus for the inspection is how reports from the police and other agencies have been considered and what action taken. As part of the Inspection process 125 recently closed cases (all closed on the IT system in April 2007) were selected for review. The criteria was to select a number of cases relating to various different offences (ranging from minor statutory and nuisance offences to the most serious High Court matters) which would allow inspection of case marking and case processing decision-making across the full range of cases from receipt of the reports to closing off of the cases. Other than an attempt to review a variety of types of offences and disposals the selection process was essentially random and the number of cases reviewed is not intended to be statistically significant however the review process does provide a useful snapshot of the workings of the offices concerned. The review process involved requesting the original case papers and manually reviewing these together with interrogating the related IT Systems. 125 original sets of case papers were sought from the offices (mostly Dumfries but a few from Stranraer under each head of selection). Hard copy papers were provided for 106 cases, no hard copy having been processed for ‘No Proceedings and Warnings’ cases and as such were not available. Where no hard copy papers were provided review was carried out solely by interrogation of the IT systems where this was possible. There are currently a number of IT Systems on which cases are processed and data preserved. The systems work in tandem and data is shared and moved from system to system and from hard copy to IT thus data integrity is an issue of some importance. RESULTS OF ANALYSIS: No Proceedings Markings The Procurator Fiscal has discretion to mark a case reported as ‘No Proceedings’. This means, as it says, there will be no action taken by the Fiscal by way of prosecution regarding the subject matter of that report. Indeed when that ‘marking’ is disclosed to the accused the Crown is precluded from any prosecution. Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service guidelines and policy require the reasons for a ‘No Proceedings’ marking to be clearly minuted on each case. There are a number of approved categories of reasons for ‘No Proceedings’ – 12 specific and a 13th reason of ‘other specified reasons… which must detail reasons why it would not be appropriate to prosecute’. In short these 8 reasons range from there being insufficient admissible evidence available to secure a conviction to various other reasons why it would not be ‘in the public interest2’ to prosecute or take other positive action against the accused (such as a Fiscal Fine or a Warning). 10 cases in which proceedings were not taken were selected for inspection for this report (8 from the Dumfries office and 2 from Stranraer). A high degree of adherence to Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service policy and guidelines was found with all cases being marked ‘No Proceedings’ in compliance with stated policy and guidelines. In 1 case the incorrect category was selected as the reason for applying the ‘No Proceedings’ marking but the marking itself was entirely appropriate (another category fitted the case).
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