Police should be given the power to charge a wide range of minor offenders, instead of having to pass the case on to lawyers from the Crown Prosecution Service for a decision, Conservatives have said.
In a policy initiative timed just days before the publication of the Government's Flanagan Report on policing, shadow home secretary David Davis also said Tories would sweep away many police performance targets as well as scrapping or merging the inspection and review bodies which oversee forces.
And he floated proposals for "virtual courts" which would link custody suites at police stations with magistrates courts to allow some hearings to take place without the defendant attending in person.
In an article for the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Davis wrote: "We need a sea change in approach in this country...
"We will restore government's trust in the professional police officer... and allow officers to re-focus on fighting crime."
Under current arrangements, police carry out investigations into crimes, but pass on the paperwork to the Crown Prosecution Service for a decision to be made on whether or not to charge.
The Conservative proposals would represent a partial return to the days before the 1986 creation of the CPS, when police forces were responsible for the bulk of charging decisions.
The proposed changes would give police the power to charge offenders in all cases where the eventual trial has to be held at a magistrates' court. This would include most motoring cases as well as offences such as minor assaults and vandalism.
Consideration would be given to allowing police to decide on prosecutions for offences in the middle of the range of seriousness - such as theft and handling stolen goods - which may be heard either by magistrates or a judge and jury.
But decisions on the most serious prosecutions, such as murder and rape, would remain with the CPS.
