'The thug in police uniform'. (Daily Mail today)

I subscribe to a newsletter about whistle blowing from Public Concern at Work. Private Eye also reports many examples of the pressures put on people who try to expose inefficiency or corruption. If you don't think it is happening , you are burying your head in the sand.

One of the best policies I got very familiar with when still working was the Whistle-Blowing Policy.' Having seen people like Nurse Graham Pink suffer when he outed dangerous practice in a Stockport hospital many years ago, my local union pushed for a policy that would be helpful to employers, employees and the public, and we managed to agree one with a group of civil servants who realised that this policy would work for them, too.

I don't want to take over yet another thread about this subject (honestly) but Butternut and Greatnan are right about the risks whistleblowers face. Not only that - in my experience it doesn't actually work. Concerns are ignored, complaints are not investigated properly and managers close ranks. It is quite possible that other Police Officers had expressed concerns about this man but had not been listened to.

You are not, no-one would think that , you like many other folk here are just putting across your point of view

I think I have had a couple of good experiences of whistle-blowing nightowl. one investigation resulted in a dismissal despite an attempt to close ranks, when the policy was invoked after a manager didn't respond, and another complaint that wasn't investigated when it should have been resulted in a resignation a week after a colleague blew the whistle. The policy has to be robust and give fine detail about the process and safeguards for the employee, should they need to complain elsewhere if their employer doesn't act. The culture of the organisation needs to be open to whistle-blowing, otherwise no-one is safe, I agree.

It's heartening to know that it can work when, and I agree that people need to be willing to speak out if they feel safe to do so. But it's important to remember that many professionals may whistle blow either openly or secretly but get absolutely nowhere. Some of PC Harwood's colleagues may have been among them.

Freddy Patel has been found to be unfit to continue as a pathologist. I find it highly suspicious that his wrong findings were so convenient for the police. I wonder whether any further investigation will take place, but I won't hold my breath.