CPS criticised for dropping one in ten cases after suspect is charged Last year, prosecutors chose not to proceed with one in four cases presented to them by the police, prompting the report to warn that there were either problems with police case file preparation or the CPS was being "too risk averse." They dropped more than 88,000 cases after the suspects had been charged. Although in the vast majority of cases, no evidence was offered or witnesses failed to turn up, many others were the result of a public interest decision. When cases were brought to trial, nearly one third did not proceed because the prosecution offered no evidence. Keir Starmer, QC, Director of Public Prosecutions claimed that the report had "misunderstood" the way the CPS worked and contained "a number of unfortunate inaccuracies." He told The Times: "I do not accept the report's central premise that the CPS should abandon the impartial pursuit of justice and focus only on securing more convictions at trial. I have no difficulty in prosecutors fighting hard for a just conviction, which is the current approach. But to equate the role of the prosecuting advocate with that of the defence ignores some fundamental differences. It is not in the public interest to put tens of thousands of [very minor] cases into our courts. Karen Sosa, author of the report, said there was an "urgent need for the CPS to become more professional, more accountable and more visible." She added: "The CPS has made great strides over the last 15 years, but it must continue to improve in order to ensure that the public is served by a competent and effective prosecution service. Dropped prosecutions, unsuccessful prosecutions, and cases abandoned pre-charge continue to plague the CPS, to the dismay of the public and the police. In addition, Chief Crown Prosecutors are too often invisible in their local communities, and the Director of Public Prosecutions is only tenuously accountable to Parliament.