Out of Court Disposal Scrutiny Panel – Annual Report 2016

Key findings of the Panel

1. The panel has found a high level of satisfaction with the appropriate use of OCDs in accordance with the National Guidelines.
2. Decisions by police officers as to whether to use OCDs have on the whole been exercised appropriately, while at the same time recognising the wide discretion afforded to officers particularly when there may not be a clear right or wrong response to an incident.
3. In most cases, Police officers are taking into account the views of the victim when deciding whether to implement an OCD. There are however improvements that can be made in terms of how this is recorded andevidenced.
4. The panel believes that a high degree of professionalism has been shown by police officers in the manner in which they have investigated crimes and considered appropriate outcomes, although substantive improvement can be made in respect of careless driving offences.