OFFENDERS are going to find themselves coming before the courts quicker than ever before.

West Mercia Police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have joined forces to speed up the decision process as to whether someone who has committed a crime is charged with a certain offence.

The collaboration - which will mean a CPS solicitor being based at every major police station - will result in less paperwork and ensure that fewer cases are discontinued in court because someone has been charged with the wrong offence.

The scheme is being unrolled across the West Mercia area after a successful pilot scheme in North Worcestershire.

Chief Insp Kevin Powell, based at Hindlip Hall police headquarters, said: By having a CPS solicitor based within the police station, officers are able to seek advice to ensure that they are charging the offender with the right offence.

"The law can be extremely complicated and, by having the services of a CPS solicitor on hand, the officers can ensure that the offender will be answering the right charge.

"There are occasions when a case has been lost because the right charges were not put in place but we hope that this scheme will put a stop to that.

"The scheme will result in less paperwork as it will reduce the number of discontinued cases in the courts. This means officers' time is being freed up and they are able to return to the beat quickly.

"The scheme also means that victims of crime can be given a clearer picture of what is happening with the case that they are involved with.

"As a force we have been assessed nationally and told that we are one of the leading forces in the country in the way we have implemented the scheme.

"Although we have only been running this new scheme for a few weeks, we have already seen an increase in the number of first-time guilty pleas and the number of cases that have been dropped has reduced by six per cent.''