That is how Harwood slipped through the disciplinary net in the first place: he was allowed to retire from one force where there were unresolved disciplinary issues, and then he found employment at the Met. Either their checks did not pick this up or it was considered unimportant.

If the police force were a nationally regulated profession (like doctors, nurses, social workers etc who have a registered body with whom employers must share disciplinary information) then there would have been a greater chance that this important information would have been passed on to them.