Following horrific revelations about some male officers serving in the Metropolitan Police, allegations of a “boys’ club” culture in Police Scotland come as little surprise.

A former assistant chief constable and three other women who previously worked in the police spoke to BBC Newsnight about their frustrations with the failure to change male officers’ attitudes towards female staff despite several serious issues. One, Rhona Malone, won nearly £1 million in compensation after an employment tribunal found she had been victimised.

Importantly, they said there were serving female officers with grievances who were too frightened to come forward. Clearly, changing a sexist culture within the police may take time, but facing up to the problem is the first step. If Police Scotland’s senior officers do not create the right atmosphere to encourage whistleblowers to come forward, then this corrosive issue will continue to blight the lives of women in the force and damage operational effectiveness.

There is a wider lesson in this for society as a whole: the need to show greater commitment to free speech. If those who raise problems within organisations are silenced, a bad situation will only get worse. If staff who dare to have thoughts above their pay grade are told to shut up and get back to work, then ideas that could improve ways of working will be lost.

It is usually easy to spot an American child in a Scottish classroom because they are much more likely to speak up, and that stems from the widespread championing of free speech in the US. Could it be one reason why American workers are an estimated 23 per cent more productive than UK ones? If people are cowed into submission and stop talking about their problems, they are unlikely to be highly motivated workers.

Greater recognition of the right to free speech is no miracle cure, but it would help. This change of mindset is not without its problems, as encouraging people to speak out will inevitably lead to some of them talking nonsense, but getting problems out into the open is the best path to a resolution.

A culture of secrecy and silence enables boys’ club cultures and other such toxic environments to thrive in the shadows. The solution? As the saying goes, sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Police Scotland officers too scared to speak up about sexism shows the need for greater respect for free speech – Scotsman comment