You cannot press charges and she cannot drop charges

I have not yet determined where the term “pressing charges” originated, but each day folks on-line ask about whether they can press charges, or IF someone that has elected to contact the police can now drop charges. Although the process is relatively simple, no civilian can go to the courts to press criminal charges. First, when there is an emergency, most people call 911, and emergency services (i.e. police, fire dept.) are dispatched. When a civilian caller dials 911, they cannot tell the 911 dispatcher who to send to the house, or location, they can only describe the emergency. The 911 dispatcher decides who will be sent to the location. When the police arrive, they listen to the story and decide what course of action should be taken. When the police make an arrest, the state has the case. So, when the intoxicated wife wants her cheating husband arrested, and tells the police that he struck her, only to try and recant the story four days, or four weeks, later, she does not have any power to drop any charges. The case belongs to the state prosecutor, who is the only person who will decide IF the case will go forward, and what charges the accused will face. The state prosecutor is not picking up the charges that the wife wants to drop, because as long as the police are placing handcuffs on the accused, it is the prosecutor’s case. 
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