GMP's top cop has called for police to be given powers to charge suspects, but one leading barrister says that's 'plain daft'

Greater Manchester's Chief Constable Stephen Watson has said police should be given the power to charge suspects in most criminal cases. Mr Watson is one of three police chiefs calling for the controversial change, which they say would help fix the crisis in the criminal justice system.

They say police should be able to authorise charges in the majority of cases, including burglary, robbery, theft, domestic abuse, knife crime and violent crime. Currently the Crown Prosecution Service has sole power to authorise charges, except in some minor cases.

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If enacted the move would in effect see a return to the way the system operated before 1986, when the CPS was created. But the proposal has been criticised by one leading barrister, who described it as 'plain daft' and no substitute for a properly funded justice system.

Writing in Monday's Guardian, Mr Watson and the chief constables ofWest Midlands and West Yorkshire forces said the CPS should concentrate on the most serious cases as it is 'far too thinly spread'.

Delays in charging decisions have led to fewer cases being resolved as victims feel 'worn down... and unsupported by a seemingly faceless and insensitive system', they wrote, adding: "Where is the evidence to support our call? In March 2015, 16% of crimes were resolved with a charge and/or summons and now it is 5.6%."

In what's been described as a 'unprecedented intervention', the three police chiefs said: "The Crown Prosecution Service is no longer able to give timely charging advice (namely while the suspect is under arrest and in the cells); not because of anything the CPS has done, but because