In Scotland all criminal cases brought to court come via the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). There are no independent prosecutions. A seperate unit of COPS deals with wildlie crime and in theory develops the specialist knowledge so essential for effective prosecution and enforcement. There will always be complaints from investigatory agencies that prosecutors are timid in persuing cases but the numbers of cases dropped by COPFS does suggest that there is a problem. It may be of course that inadequate investigation results in a case that is not going to stand up in court but Depute Fiscals (the lawyers in COPFS who prosecute cases) have the power to direct investigators to follow specific lines of enquiry. Perhaps wildlife crime is not at the glamourous end of law enorcement but it is something that the public is hugely concerned about. There needs to be clarity on the decisions made in wildlife crime prosecutions and the public needs to be confident that cases are being persued with the rigour and determination that they have a right to expect.