A police whistleblower who resigned after raising concerns about the massaging of crime statistics has confronted the Metropolitan Police Commissioner in a radio phone in.

Pc James Patrick asked Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe during an appearance on LBC whether the force will change the way it deals with whistleblowers after his experience.

He told Britain's most senior police officer: "I feel very, very let down in particular by the senior levels of the Met and I wanted to take the opportunity to say that.

"I sincerely hope that people who want to expose wrongdoing in the Met get a slightly less raw deal in the future."

Sir Bernard said he would be willing to meet Mr Patrick now that there are no disciplinary proceedings ongoing, and that the force is always willing to look at how it deals with officers who raise concerns.

When asked whether Scotland Yard will review procedures, he said: "We are always prepared to do that. In each case, as you will know sadly in your experience, it's not straightforward.


"Of course we will always be prepared to look at that and if there's anything that comes from it of course we will try and learn. It's a difficult balance to strike."

Mr Patrick gave evidence to an influential committee of MPs claiming that massaging crime figures to hit performance targets had become "an engrained part of policing culture''.

He was separately put under internal investigation by the Met after writing about changes to the police service in a blog, on Twitter and later in a book, The Rest Is Silence.

Scotland Yard later downgraded his disciplinary proceedings from gross misconduct to misconduct, meaning he would not have faced the sack.

But he then decided to resign, blaming his treatment by the Metropolitan Police in the wake of "making disclosures in good faith and in the public interest".

Today he told Sir Bernard that there was "an awful lot" that the force could learn from his case.

The commissioner told him: "I'm sorry about your experience, I'm sure whatever the rights and wrongs it's not something that you have enjoyed, or your family.

"I hope you would be prepared to accept as well although you've got a very firm view about of what you have seen and your experience, I have asked for independent advice to find out whether your allegations are endemic or in fact your experience was a one off."

Mr Patrick's claims about crime statistics, combined with further evidence submitted to Parliament, ultimately led to the UK Statistics Authority stripping police-recorded crime figures of their gold-standard status.