Corrupt cops

[David Guyatt]

Metropolitan police whistleblower 'forced to resign'

PC James Patrick, whose evidence forced Met to admit crime figures were unreliable, cited lack of trust as reason to quit

• Kevin Rawlinson
  
• The Guardian, Tuesday 25 March 2014
  

Metropolitan police commissoner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has admitted the force's crime statistics were likely to be unreliable. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

The whistleblower who revealed inaccuracies in the Metropolitan policeservice (MPS)'s crime figures, prompting an investigation and the withdrawal of their gold standard status for statistics, said on Monday night he had resigned as a result of his treatment by senior officers.
PC James Patrick gave evidence to a parliamentary committee that led to admissions by the police inspector, Tom Winsor, and the Met commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, that crime figures produced by the force were likely to be unreliable.
He was also subject to misconduct proceedings and faced the sack over a book he wrote, proceeds from which he said were donated to charity, pointing out problems at the Met.
"This resignation arises directly from my treatment as a result of making disclosures in good faith and in the public interest," said Patrick, announcing his resignation.
He added: "My experience led me to see just how flawed the whistleblowing system is, how it fails, but also to firmly believe that no police officer should normally resign or retire while subject to any misconduct investigation. But the circumstances are such that I have no choice."
The accusations against Patrick were downgraded from gross misconduct to misconduct, which meant he would not face the sack. But he said he intended to resign from the force after the proceedings in any case due to a lack of trust and the sustained attacks against his character he said had taken place.
The move calls into question the UK's largest police force's treatment of those who question senior management.
In a statement, released on Monday, he said that the Met's investigation and misconduct proceedings against him had taken a toll on his family; adding: "yet even so I carried on acting in the public interest, resulting in my being effectively bullied at New Scotland Yard and, in the end, with my sparking a parliamentary inquiry into crime statistics which has had a significant national impact.
"In the wake I had to watch senior officers deny it was happening, but I couldn't reply as I'd been warned that it could result in further discipline."
He added: "It is impossible for me to see how I could ever trust the MPS again, that is something which is permanently destroyed."
A spokesman for the Met said it would be inappropriate to comment.

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