Report and Recommendations - Scottish Government

5.2.29 Continuing with the custody process, the procurator fiscal and his/her deputeshave to consider the reports and prepare the cases for prosecution 32 . The timefor this is also now measured in hours rather than minutes. In short, the workinvolved in each of these stages should not be underestimated. It is far greaterthan it was at the time of the Thomson Committee’s deliberations. Thenumber of considerations is significant. Both the police and the procuratorfiscal must assess and record, not only matters of law, evidence and the publicinterest, but also wider issues such as potential risks to and vulnerabilities ofthe accused, witnesses and victims.5.2.30 The Review has not thought it necessary to recommend legislation to force amore focused effort at weekends. What is required is not legislation but asystem which involves the continued operation of the legal system, so far as isdesirable and necessary, to ensure the protection of a suspect’s human rightsnot only during the working week but also at the weekends. Although thepolice are engaged on a round the clock basis, they require to be encouraged toreport custody cases as soon as is reasonably practicable. That cannot beachieved if few in the prosecution service are available to receive and markthe reports as and when they are received, in particular on Saturdays andSundays. The Review is not in any way criticising the work ethic of theprosecution service or its individual members. It also appreciates that,especially in these times of economic constraint, there may be staffing andother resource difficulties. It realises that work is sometimes done atweekends in some areas. The concern of the Review is not in relation to theoverall workload, which is what it is, but relative to the organisation of that32 paras 12.1 - 16114