In a large office somewhere in Bristol, a police officer is watching bodycam footage of two of his colleagues arresting a woman for causing a public nuisance on the Clifton suspension bridge. Viewers of To Catch a Copper have just seen the same video and, if we were in any doubt about our reaction being the correct one, the cop reviewing the tape is mirroring us at home. He sits there open-mouthed.
Four years ago, Avon and Somerset Police allowed documentary cameras to track the work of its Counter-Corruption Unit. That’s the equivalent of AC-12 in Line of Duty, but this unit’s brief covers any wrongdoing on the job, not just bent coppers. As yet, To Catch a Copper offers no dark conspiracy or infiltration by organised crime. Instead, in a first instalment themed around the mistreatment of vulnerable citizens, it reveals the disgusting behaviour of some individuals, and the infuriatingly inadequate responses of the relevant authorities.
