DPP warns his office is struggling to cope with huge increase in crime

THE Director of Public Prosecutions has warned that his office is struggling to cope with the massive increase in crime, with 12,300 suspects being processed by his staff in 2009 alone.

In his newly released annual report for that year, James Hamilton said, so far, his team had coped, but he added: “If there is any increase in the workload coming into the office, something will have to give.”

The sheer workload the DPP faces and the lag in seeing cases through to completion is evidenced by the fact the report can only give details for cases that were completed in 2008. Too many are still outstanding in 2009 to make reporting them worthwhile.