Chris Hobbs
A course of events that has police chiefs and government ministers cursing a lowly police constable on a day in which they should have been bathing in the reflected glory of reduced crime figures is an event which probably won’t be repeated. The Metropolitan Police are clearly determined to crush whistleblower James Patrick in a way that serves as an example to other ‘junior’officers who might be tempted to break ranks and reveal malpractice within the Met.
PC Patrick has incurred the wrath of the world’s most famous force by publically revealing the police manipulation of crime figures, a manipulation which former Met commissioner, Lord Stevens later admitted has gone on for decades.
Despite laws which protect whistleblowers, PC Patrick was investigated by the Met’s Department of Professional Standards (DPS) and ‘charged’ with the sackable offence of gross misconduct. If they were hoping to hold a quiet internal disciplinary hearing and kick James out of the Met they seriously miscalculated. The issue of ‘fiddled’ crime figures became a political hot potato and PC Patrick inconveniently gave evidence to the Public Administration Select Committee.
The beleaguered Met stated that owing to ‘public interest’ PC Patrick’s case would be reviewed by another force. The other force, Warwickshire delivered a slap in the face for the Met’s DPS with the verdict that ‘gross misconduct’ was inappropriate and should be replaced with the non-sackable minor misdemeanour offence of misconduct. Presumably without the ‘public interest’ PC Patrick would have been quietly sacked.
PC Patrick’s case however has opened up a whole can of worms in relation to how the Met and indeed other forces deal with officers who have revealed wrongdoing or otherwise transgressed. More and more disturbing evidence is emerging of dubious practices being adopted by Professional Standards Departments (PSD’s) of a number of these forces to the extent that they are mistrusted and feared by rank and file officers.
The Met’s own DPS was recently savaged by Tessa Munt in a statement made to fellow MP’s. Six Territorial Support Group (TSG) officers faced a trial at Kingston Crown Court for allegedly assaulting and racially abusing three men of Arab decent. The officers desperately attempted to secure CCTV tapes which they knew would prove their innocence. The DPS denied such tapes existed but were later found to be in possession of them. This was revealed by chance just two days before the officers went on trial at Kingston Crown Court
The officers were found not guilty and as there were no internal disciplinary offences, they expected life to go back to normal. How wrong they were. The Met continued the process of victimisation and removed them from their elite TSG unit returning them to normal duties.
One of the six resigned while the whole process had wreaked havoc upon the private and family lives of the other officers as indeed it has with PC Patrick. The men complained about the conduct of the DPS which was duly investigated by …..yes the DPS. Complaints were then made to the Independent Police Complaints Commission who mounted two enquiries and delivered damning verdicts.
They demanded that the DPS officers involved with the CCTV tapes face gross misconduct charges but the Met merely allowed them to plead ‘guilty’ to simple misconduct which resulted in a gentle tap on the wrist ‘punishment’ consisting of words of advice.
The six then decided that they would bring an employment tribunal case against the Met for what is best described as reverse racism. The three arrested men are still bringing a civil case against the Metropolitan Police and the Edgware Road 6 were given a chilling ultimatum by the Met chiefs. The message, delivered by a superintendent was simple; drop your employment tribunal case against the Met or you will face financial ruin if the three men win their civil claim. By making the officers liable to what is known as part 20 proceedings, they were effectively cast adrift by the Metropolitan Police who would normally accept liability in the event of a civil claim of this nature succeeding.
To add insult to injury, the six found that their personnel files had been tampered with to show a finding of guilt resulting in words of advice. There was never any finding of ‘guilt.’
MP’s listening to Tessa Munt’s statement were visibly shocked and it can be found in full at
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm140319/halltext/140319h0001.htm
The Met’s record in dealing with whistleblowers and dissenters is a truly abysmal one. Detective Sergeant Howard Shaw reported concerns that his supervising officer had submitted a fraudulent application for a role within the Met. He was subjected to ‘trumped up’ disciplinary allegations and was later awarded £37,000 by an employment tribunal. Howard Shaw retired before completing his fully pensionable thirty years service.
Inspector Brian Casson reviewed the death of Kester David and the Met’s subsequent conclusion that Kester had committed suicide by setting himself on fire. Inspector Casson’s conclusion was that the investigation was seriously flawed and then he too was subject to a disciplinary investigation which the employment tribunal judge stated was ‘victimisation’ as he adjudicated in favour of Brian whose efforts were applauded by Kester David’s family and the black community. Brian Casson is still with the Met.
DCI David Mckelvey’s decision that he would attempt to ‘bring down’ untouchable East End crime boss David Hunt resulted in he and his team submitting a report that suggested corruption linked to Hunt was present within Scotland Yard. DCI Mckelvey and two of team then found themselves subjected to a lengthy disciplinary investigation.
Hunt meanwhile unsuccessfully sued the Sunday Times on the grounds that he was an honest businessman as opposed to a gangster as portrayed by the paper. Hunt’s action failed and Judge Rose savaged the Met’s treatment of DCI Mckelvey and his team.
David Mckelvey suffered a nervous breakdown and left the force and all three officers are now taking legal action against the Metropolitan Police.
The last disastrous Met police staff satisfaction survey in 2012 should have been a major wake-up call for the Met’s senior management which managed a stunningly abysmal 21% satisfaction rating. It probably would have been even worse but for the fact that such is the mistrust which exists, many officers will not complete the online survey as they are not satisfied with the guarantee of anonymity. The consultants conducting the survey concluded overall that morale was low.
This survey was compounded by a recent survey conducted by the Metropolitan Police Federation which concluded that a target culture was responsible for bullying and intimidation resulting in even a further lowering of morale.
The publicity surrounding PC Patrick is shining the spotlight on other miscarriages of justice inflicted on officers throughout the country by Professional Standards Departments whose methods are at best dubious, at worst corrupt.
In West Yorkshire a vigorous campaign is being conducted to prove the innocence of ex-PC Danny Major, imprisoned for allegedly assaulting a prisoner in circumstances that bear a disturbing resemblance to those of the Edgware Road 6 except of course those officers were acquitted. In Danny’s case, PSD officers believed to have been involved in ‘fitting up’ Danny have been named and shamed. His supporters hope that a current investigation by Greater Manchester Police will confirm his innocence.
PC Tony Ryan of Avon and Somerset Police was recently sacked after an investigation by the force PSD for a twitter account which made some venomous comments concerning senior officers. PC Ryan offered the investigation officers his laptop and mobile phone claiming that he was not @TheBritishCop. TheBritishCop contacted Avon and Somerset stating that they had got the wrong man but explaining that he couldn’t reveal his identity as he would be sacked by his own force. PC Ryan has published the evidence against him which can be viewed online.
It would be charitable to describe it as both flimsy and circumstantial and probably wouldn’t even pass muster at a North Korean police discipline board. Hopefully those considering the evidence during the inevitable appeals will see sense.
I personally spoke to an officer from a southern force who was sacked for gross misconduct after allegedly having sex with a vulnerable mother of four who suffered from alcohol and drug problems.
What was withheld by the PSD was the fact that the unfortunate female had previously made similar allegations against other members of the emergency services. There was no forensic evidence and the former officer is still supported by his former colleagues. The PSD detective sergeant responsible for the case stated that she ‘didn’t know about the rules of disclosure’ and was sent on a course.
The same force is facing scrutiny for similar miscarriages of justice involving past and present officers.
Inspector Michael Brown who blogs and tweets as Mental Health Cop but is still an officer who works the streets, tweeted that an especially difficult night duty was exacerbated by cutbacks. His public and humiliating rebuke which made the national press provoked fury amongst his colleagues and mental health professionals throughout the country. Inspector Brown is the leading police authority on mental health issues yet even he had to be taught not to stray from the official line. The outcry ensured that he was soon blogging again after receiving ‘informal words of advice’ but once again the message to rank and file West Midlands police was clear; don’t even think about breaking ranks and telling it how it is.
Make no mistake more examples of police officers suffering from malpractice inflicted by their own forces will emerge over the next weeks and months and even these will be the tip of a very large iceberg.
But what of PC Patrick? He suffered further intimidation in relation to two documents reluctantly disclosed by the Met after they had previouslydenied their existence. Disgusted he tendered his resignation before his ‘misconduct’ hearing which itself was a fiasco. The adjudicating Chief Inspector from the City of London force took all of ten minutes to consider all the facts including PC Patrick’s 136 page submission and pronounced him guilty. His punishment was a final written warning.
With the Met deciding to bring his leaving date forward by effectively paying him off; James’s final day is May the 9th.
After ‘blowing the whistle’ on crime figures, PC Patrick appeared with two retired senior police officers in front of the Pubic Administration Select Committee. The members of the committee were shocked not only by the crime figure revelations but by the treatment of PC Patrick.
Their final report was damning in relation to both the manipulation of crime figures and the victimisation of PC Patrick. This powerful select committee demanded an enquiry into his treatment.
Shortly after the publication of the select committee report, James appeared on the One Show in a short harrowing piece which illustrated the problems faced by police officers who reveal wrongdoing within their force.
Despite the fact that James’s final day was known, the Met’s DPS have again gone into overdrive. Instead of letting sleeping dogs lie, they have again charged him with gross misconduct. It would seem their intention is to officially dismiss him from the force which will ensure he is placed on the national police ‘struck off’ register shortly to be administered by the college of policing. This will severely limit his employment prospects.
In fact by his appearances PC Patrick was ‘whistleblowing’ on how being a whistleblower impacts upon family life and his sobbing wife visible to millions of viewers on the One Show was clearly evidence of that. If anything, the Met hierarchy should perhaps be grateful for his appearance as it clearly illustrates the trauma involved in revealing wrongdoing and would certainly dissuade any serving officer from speaking out.
It used to be the phrase; ‘Tough on Crime tough on the causes of crime’ which would inevitably result in gales of sarcastic laughter resounding around any police canteen or office.
That phrase has been replaced in the police hilarity stakes by ‘Integrity is non-negotiable’ which is the incongruous mantra of the Metropolitan Police and other UK police forces.