Michael Dunkley has said he hoped to see a reduction in “unnecessary criminalisation” as a result of an amendment to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act.

The amendment, passed in the Senate last week, will permit the Director of Public Prosecutions to provide guidance to any officer ranked as inspector or higher with regards to the issuing of formal police cautions as an alternative to a formal prosecution being brought through the courts.

The Office of DPP believes that cautions are appropriate for first-time and low-level offenders who admit guilt when talking to police.

The Premier told The Royal Gazette: “Cautions have a number of intersecting goals, which make them a win-win all around.

“They allow the police to give an offender a ‘second chance’, so to speak, where circumstances warrant it.

“By avoiding going to the courts, we hope to reduce unnecessary criminalisation. No conviction will also mean no criminal record for first-time offenders. This has the added benefit of saving time and resources when it comes to dealing with offenders; police officers, prosecutors and magistrates won’t have to waste valuable time on cases which really are not appropriate for a full-scale prosecution.”

Mr Dunkley said the DPP guidance had last been revised in 2013, and that the new director, Larry Mussenden, may want to revisit this.

He added: “It is a 2014 Throne Speech priority to work with the director to amend the formal caution policy to permit greater discretion on the part of officers when dealing with first-time offenders who might otherwise have been charged with simple possession of cannabis.”

Tabling the amendment in the House of Assembly, Attorney-General Trevor Moniz said the measures were supported by the DPP, the Bermuda Police Service, the judiciary and the Bermuda Bar Council, and highlighted that similar measures were being used in other jurisdictions, including Britain and Hong Kong.

Shadow Attorney-General Michael Scott reminded the House that Rory Field, the outgoing DPP, declared a code last month to guide prosecutors in the reaching of a decision to bring a criminal matter.

“This provision of a guideline for cautioning is properly aligned with that code,” Mr Scott said. “Alas, we don’t have any details of the code as of yet.”

Mr Moniz replied that there had been some problems because the system had been operating on an informal basis.

“The formal statutory basis was not in place because section 36 was part five of Pace, which is not yet in force. We will be seeking to formalise that so everybody can see what the code is.”

Speaking further on implementation, Mr Moniz said concerns had been raised over the potential of adding to the burden of the police force.

“If you have a conditional caution, someone has to make sure that the conditions are met and the police are asking who will that be,” Mr Moniz said.

“It involves more engagement and work on the part of the police service and will have to be co-ordinated with the efforts of the Department of Public Prosecutions.

“We are trying to see how we can move forward.”

Mr Moniz said the more complex ticketing and warning framework used in Britain was considered, but added that there was resistance from the police service, who said that they had a reduced budget and reduced manpower.

“We are determined on this side to take people out of the criminal justice system where appropriate and to be fair to the police and prosecutors,” he said. “You see far fewer people going to the Magistrates’ Court on very minor charges than we have before. Now we have things like the Drug Court and Mental Health Court, where we are able to take them out of the system and give them another path to being responsible citizens.”