RSPCA should be be stripped of prosecution powers

[UKPoacher]

No I don't want the last word honestly... but isn't that what I said.. ??

 

This is the RSPCA, s code of practice

 

The Code for Crown Prosecutors

Our approach to prosecution reflects the principles of The Code for Crown Prosecutors.

 

The Code is a public document issued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that sets out the general principles to be applied when making decisions about prosecutions.

 

Read the Code in full at: www.cps.gov.uk

There are two stages to the Code.

1. Evidential test

   Is there sufficient evidence ‘to provide a realistic prospect of conviction against each defendant and on each charge’?

2. Public interest test

   Where there is enough evidence, is it in the public interest to prosecute?

If a case file does not meet these tests, then the RSPCA will not prosecute.

 

You seem to have difficulty understanding that presenting the case is not the same as reviewing it. An independent reviewer might see things that the more focused investigator has overlooked. This is particularly true of considering the defence evidence.

[Adge Cutler]

I have no faith in the impartiality of the RSPCA. As for the 7 million + contributors knowing how the money was spent - it isn't even laughable.

 

That's your opinion and your entitled to it Gordon.. I will still continue to support the RSPCA personally because I know first hand the extreme good they do in the main.

 

As I have said before the alternative would ( in my opinion ) leave many cases of animal cruelty unexposed, unchallenged and possibly repeated.

 

Of course the RSPCA need to tidy up their act .

 

Cheers for now.

[Gordon R]

Adge - we will have to agree to disagree - not a problem.

[panoma1]

I said both the aims of the RSPCA and the CPS are the same....

 

That's different! If you meant the "aims" of the RSPCA and the CPS are the same, why didn't you say so?

 

You wrote that the RSPB are a mechanism "like" the CPS for getting the accused in court......when clearly, as has been pointed out endlessly on this thread......they are not!

[Vince Green]

Despite their rather dubious status as a charity the RSPCA bring prosecutions (in my opinion) to advertise their activities by gaining positive media coverage. Their primary motivation for doing this (again in my opinion) is to keep the donations rolling in.

 

Rather tacky and they do undoubtedly employ bullying tactics. I'm not really surprised they are being stripped of their ability to bring these stitch up prosecutions

 

They are not impartial, the law should always be impartial. Many of their inspectors are on a mission, quite clearly they are, why else would they be doing the job?

Edited November 16, 2016 by Vince Green

[Prospero]

RSPCA are liars and bullies. I had a job once for a school removing gull nests from the roof. Local tree hugger phoned them up and school got a visit from an "Inspector" who informed the school I was breaking the law... I had already given them chapter and verse on the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) and a copy of the General Licence, the "Inspector" left in a hurry after that...

[old man]

I think this is a very interesting debate on due process. The ability to act as both the investigatory agency and prosecutorial decision maker on a criminal matter is something that our system was designed to guard against. Hence the clear lines between the police and cps. And yet, for some apparently unexplained reason, one registered charity has been allowed to act outside the normal boundaries that are there to help ensure the right to a fair trial. Even if the body in question was doing the most spectacular job imaginable the conflation of investigation and prosecution test is a threat to civil liberties that should be of concern to us all. Sometimes parliamentary scrutiny is well founded. I think this is one such occasion.

 

Absolutely Dr D.

[old man]

As an aside, I now believe Mr May of Badger fame is stepping in to support them?

[McSpredder]

This is the RSPCA, s code of practice.......Our approach to prosecution reflects the principles of The Code for Crown Prosecutors.......

The Code is a public document issued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that sets out the general principles to be applied when making decisions about prosecutions.

Codes of Practice are a truly wonderful idea – for the consultants who get paid to write them.

 

Here are a few extracts from a code of practice published by one of the motor trade bodies:

“To provide competent trained personnel to ensure an efficient, consistent high quality customer experience at all times.”

“To be open, fair and transparent in all our business dealings.”

“To attend to our customers’ needs in a professional manner.”

“To operate our business in accordance with the highest standards of ethical and moral conduct.”

“To undertake to resolve customer complaints in a prompt and courteous manner.”

 

I suspect the insurers who use the small print to wriggle out of claims, the supermarkets who fund “special promotions” by cutting payments to their suppliers without notice, and the banks that conned people into paying for unnecessary PPI, would all say they follow codes of practice.

 

If some reliable person can assure me that the RSPCA always acts in a responsible manner, then I shall of course believe it. Until then, I shall reserve judgement.