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Standard 4 – CPS will provide an immediately accessible service for the telephone referral of cases: -

Standard 5 – CPS will ensure early face-to-face consultations are provided for serious, sensitive and complex
cases: -

Standard 6 – CPS will ensure that charging decisions are consistent and in accordance with the Code for Crown
Prosecutors and appropriate legal and policy guidance.

Police Personal Conduct: -

These values underpin all policing functions and in respect of police personal conduct and require all person(s)
working for the police service to “behave in a manner, whether on or off duty, which does not bring discredit on
the police service or undermine public confidence in policing” (See Standard 9 – Conduct). The Code explicitly
states that complying with the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS), which is the central rules from the
Home Office that do comply with the Counting Rules for Recorded Crime (HOCR), is an example of meeting
the standards.

Regards to NSIR Standards: -
With further regards to NSIR standards that do define any communication from any person to be otherwise
known as a “CFS a caller for services” a CFS is any person(s) by whatever means of contact, about a matter that
comes to police attention and which is required by the NSIR to be recorded. There are a number of minimum
data standards to be complied with when recording information on an incident record:

 An incident unique reference number (URN)
 The time and date the report was received.
 The method of reporting.
 A clear and accurate time and date the report was recorded.
 Details of the person making the report (name, address and telephone number)
 Sufficient information to describe the location and nature of the report.
 The opening and closing category.
 Also, the Time and date of initial and closing classification.

Contained within the respondent Antisocial Behaviour Order (ASBO) application I take a problem with there
being no URN numbers to a vast amount of the official documents contained within the respondent’s bundle.
The Prosecution Team Manual of Guidance For the preparation, processing and submission of prosecution files
2011 (Incorporating National File Standard 2015) also states the importance to case files URN numbers and
continues to quote the following: -
UNIQUE REFERENCE NUMBER (“URN”)

1.3.1
A URN must be allocated to a case file at the earliest opportunity to allow tracking and monitoring of the case
where possible. This process should start at the CPS pre-charge advice stage where the URN will be recorded on
the MG3/3A.

1.3.2
When completing a case file, the URN must be entered on all MG forms. The endorsement of the URN on each
page of each form ensures that if material becomes separated from the file, it can be easily identified and
maintains continuity.
1.3.4
Allocating a URN for case files involving multiple offences and/or offenders will need to be closely monitored
to avoid duplication. Specific guidance on when and how these case files should be numbered is contained at 2.4
of Section 2. This includes obtaining guidance from the CPS regarding the splitting or merging of case files.
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