ACT POLICING says new rules are forcing it to pay more money to people acquitted of crimes, with the costs awarded against the territory in criminal cases increasing by about 50per cent in the last financial year.
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The lawyer responsible for the lion's share of the pay-outs, defence solicitor Ben Aulich, has argued police and the Director of Public Prosecutions are too often fighting unwinnable courtroom battles.
But DPP Jon White said the community expected his office to pursue every case with a reasonable chance of success.
The ACT Policing annual report reveals court costs worth about $300,000 were awarded against the prosecution in 2010-11 - up about $100,000 on the previous year.
Police said changes to the way costs are allocated caused the spike, an argument supported by a steady conviction rate during the same period.
The increase has prompted the Justice and Community Safety Directorate to consider ways to tackle the problem.
Mr Aulich, however, said the problem stemmed from the prosecution's unwillingness to drop cases doomed to fail.
The solicitor, whose firm specialises in criminal cases, has helped secure pay-outs costing taxpayers at least $190,000.
''There's often times where we've let the prosecution know in very robust terms, and they still run them,'' Mr Aulich said.
''Once we've let them know about the problems in their cases that exposes the AFP for not only costs but indemnity costs.
''[The DPP] need to take a robust line with [complainants] and say, 'we don't think we can win and we don't think we can win for these reasons'. That spares them having to give the evidence and having to go through what is often a pretty awful court case.''
But Mr White said his office only pursued matters that have a strong chance of success.
''It's always a matter for judgment as to whether cases run, and we assess each matter in accordance with prosecution policy, and we only proceed where we think there are reasonable prospects of success,'' he said.
''Clearly we don't win every case, but the community would expect us to be very careful before we started discontinuing matters where there was a reasonable case.''
ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell said the Government was aware there had been a significant increase in costs awarded for unsuccessful criminal prosecutions.
''In certain matters it is appropriate for the defendants to recover costs for a failed prosecution, however, it is important to make sure that the level of costs awarded is proportionate to the seriousness and complexity of the matter being defended, and is just in all the circumstances.''
