"Look out, guys, we've been spotted, says our driver, raising his right arm to conceal his face as he steers. That guy's a known face in organised crime. We need to get out of here. As we speed out of a north Belfast estate, he checks the rearview mirror. The pedestrian who spooked him is snapping our departing car with his phone. Once we're safely out of view, our driver breathes a sigh of relief."
"I didn't mean to scare you but that was a bad boy. And he was definitely taking an interest in us. As part of our exclusive visit to the set of Blue Lights which is about to roar back on to BBC One, sirens blazing and bulbs flashing the show's creators and police adviser have invited us on a ride-along around some of the locations that inspired the Bafta-winning drama."
"The adviser a retired detective I've been instructed to call Roy (not his real name, since there remain security risks for ex-police in Belfast) told us not to use a Vauxhall or Skoda, which would be twigged as unmarked cop cars. No matter how covert you think you're being, they'll rumble you, he says. Instead, we're in a hired SUV for a guided tour of the city's crime hotspots, trying not to attract unwanted attention."
A driver in north Belfast shields his face and speeds away after a pedestrian photographs their car, reflecting risks of being identified by organised crime figures. The ride-along accompanies the creators and police adviser for a drama inspired by the city's policing realities. A retired detective named Roy advises avoiding cars that resemble unmarked police vehicles and emphasizes the danger of being recognised. Some neighbourhoods historically policed themselves under the influence of organised crime, enforcing brutal punishments such as kneecapping for transgressions. Residents followed a strict code of silence and sometimes manipulated arrests to evade retaliatory violence. The tour highlights the continuing security risks faced by ex-officers.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]