Dishonest politician's guide 'brilliance'

Yesterday we published 'The dishonest politician's guide to the police', by Professor Tim Hope of the University of Salford.

We were pleased to see that former Metropolitan Police officer and whistleblower, James Patrick, liked Tim's piece:

Brilliance from Dr Timothy Hope: http://t.co/hbmsbeuwHt

— James Patrick (@J_amesp) November 20, 2014

James Patrick resigned from the Metropolitan Police earlier this year after facing disciplinary charges for undermining public confidence in the police. His apparent crime? Telling MPs on the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee that the police fiddle crime figures.

In the report of its inquiry the Committee concluded that, indeed, police crime statistics could not be trusted. At the time of the report publication Tim Hope wrote:

For those of us engaged in teaching Criminology, perhaps the most surprising (though welcome) thing about the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee's report Caught red-handed: Why we can’t count on Police Recorded Crime statistics is that the realisation that the police abuse the current system should have come as any surprise at all.