Line of Duty ‘crosses the line’ over portrayal of Police and Crime Commissioner, says real thing

The portrayal of the police and crime commissioner in the hit TV show Line of Duty has been slammed as “totally unrealistic” by a man who has been doing the job for real for five years.

North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones said he was a big fan of BBC One’s ratings blockbuster but says that the behaviour of his television counterpart, Rohan Sindwhani, doesn’t ring true.

Interviewed about Line of Duty on Radio 4 , Mr Jones said: “I don’t think it’s particularly realistic, it’s not true to life.

“A police and crime commissioner wouldn’t be getting involved in the operational side of policing as that police and crime commissioner does,” he said.

“The most unrealistic part is when the PCC resigns after the Chief Constable calls for less political interference. That just wouldn’t happen, a far more likely scenario would be for the PCC to call for the Chief Constable to resign.”

His comments came as voters across Wales prepare to vote for Police Crime Commissioners to represent North Wales, Dyfed-Powys, South Wales and Gwent on May 6.

‘Concerns’

The fictional commissioner who lords it over Central Police plays a key role in the mind-bogglingly complicated twists and turns of the plot in Line of Duty.

Sindwhani was elected on the platform of “shaking things up” and exposing police corruption in full. But he’s then forced to lie about the outcome of the Operation Pear Tree investigation into institutionalised links with organised crime when his senior legal counsel, Gill Biggeloe, was an active member of the Organised Crime Syndicate that killed police officers.

“It annoys me,” Arfon Jones said. “Clearly, whoever has advised the producers of Line of Duty are either not aware of the role of police and crime commissioner or they are trying to blacken the reputation of the role?

“After initial concerns, I now fully support the concept of PCCs as they are more effective and efficient and conduct better scrutiny than 17 members of a police authority.”

But like the rest of the show’s fans Mr Jones can’t wait to find out who “H” is.

Theories and predictions are swirling around Line of Duty as the sixth series prepares to come to an explosive end on Sunday night.

While series five revealed that the bent copper “H” was in fact not one person but several, the search remains ongoing for the last “H”, also referred to as “the fourth man”. There has been some speculation that Sindwhani may be unmasked as the last “H”.

Mr Jones has confessed to being an avid watcher of the series and has thoroughly enjoyed most of it, having served and an officer of North Wales Police before retiring as an inspector after 30 years on the force.

He was elected to become the region’s second-ever PCC when as the Plaid Cymru candidate he won in 2016 election, but is standing down at the PCC election on May 6.