Detectives ‘Cracking’ Under Evidence Disclosure Rules

DETECTIVES are “cracking under the weight” of evidence disclosure guidance, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said, as PFEW launches a campaign for the Government to simplify it.

PFEW’s campaign, #SimplifyDG6, also calls on the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the College of Policing and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to jointly work with them in ensuring all officers receive face-to-face training on disclosure procedures.

The new disclosure rules, which started in January 2021, require officers to provide the CPS with a trial-ready prosecution before it makes a decision about charging. This has had a massive effect on detectives and other officers, increasing workloads by 33%.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: “These stumbling blocks have had a massive impact on the workload of our detective colleagues. In essence, they have to do a full evidential file for things where there may be a guilty plea anyway.

“This, again, adds to the pressure-cooker atmosphere that our detective colleagues in particular are working under. They are cracking under the weight of it, and then they’re expected to do masses of files of paperwork when it’s simply not needed.

“It’s really important that the PFEW nationally is launching this campaign and they need to keep their foot on the gas, because this is something that will relieve the pressure on our detective colleagues who really are working ridiculous hours and it’s not acceptable.”

In May, the Attorney General published a review of the disclosure guidance, but Ben Hudson, Chair of the Police Federation National Detectives’ Forum and National Lead on the Impact of Revised CPS Guidance, said the review “does not provide any major action points to redress the shortcomings”.