No, that was prosecution of cases.
The Custody Sergeant used to determine the vast majority of charges (aside from some crimes where a named official had to determine whether a charge would take place, usually the DPP, and very serious offences) until the changes referred to by Azrael came in (in 2003 or 2004, I forget which), and forced officers to use CPS Direct (albeit this still has to go via a Sergeant to determine whether there is enough to bother them with).
It is extremely long-winded (ie: it invariably adds multiple hours onto the "end" of cases)and is (probably rightly) for the chop should the Tories get in, albeit it does probably give the CPS rather better (or rather easier) cases than it would in all likelyhood get under the old system.
In addition, it is the existence of CPS Direct alone that has led to the Police being able to impose pre-charge bail conditions upon suspects, since otherwise they would have no choice but to release people who would not have been released under the old system.
