Whistleblowing
Police Officers and Whistleblowing
Police officers are protected under employment legislation with regards to
making protected disclosures who as a result have suffered a detriment or
been unfairly dismissed.
The protection was introduced by section 37 of the Police Reform Act 2002 and came into force in Spring 2004. The relevant Parliamentary consideration can be found at Hansard (HL) 5 March 2002 cols 215-220 and Parliamentary Debates (HC) Standing Committee A 27 June 2002, cols 425-7
The exclusion of police officers from the original Bill had been justified by the
fact that police officers had always been excluded from standard employment rights. Nevertheless their exclusion from PIDA was criticised by almost all those consulted in 1997/98, particularly as miscarriages of justice were a type of wrongdoing the Act specifically covered in section 43B(1)(c).
The Association of Chief Police Officers had maintained that if civilian police staff were to be protected so should their officer colleagues. As a result of these criticisms, the Government gave "an absolute commitment" in 1998 that police officers would be given equivalent protection.
To find out more about whistleblowing and to keep updated with
developments we would suggest that interested parties view a website which we have found useful (Public Concern at Work) which is a charity.
http://www.pcaw.co.uk/index.htm
