LIFE OF CRIME
THE cop drama has been a mainstay of the schedules virtually since the birth of television, but just how accurate are TV shows’ depictions of detectives and their work?
This new factual documentary should go some way to answering that particular question.
It tells the inside story of how detectives from Lancashire Police investigate serious crimes like armed robbery, rape and murder - from the first call to the crime scene, through to charging the suspects.
Made by the team behind ITV’s critically-acclaimed The Murder Of Sadie Hartley and focusing on the same force, the programme features extensive access to officers from the Force Major Investigation Team (FMIT) who operate across its major towns Blackpool, Preston, Burnley, Blackburn, and the wider county.
In the first episode, Detective Sergeant Sheralyn Melton is tasked with tracking down a suspect who allegedly committed a rape after meeting a woman on a dating website.
She starts her investigation in Burnley where the victim says she met the suspect on the dating website plentyoffish. com, and the two met at her address.
An online trail left behind - through the dating website and their conversation via WhatsApp - means DS Melton and her team start a search for 26-year-old Scott Lazenby, who is not at home in Salford or in Padiham, near Burnley, where they have a lead that he is playing football.
Lazenby finally arrives at the police station with his solicitor, and after initial shock at being arrested, denies the crime.
Despite evidence that he is lying about his his movements the night before coming in to the station and his relationship status, the officers don’t have enough evidence to charge him with rape until new evidence emerges from colleagues.
DS Melton says: “This person has committed an almost identical offence. His MO (modus operandi) is exactly the same. He’s met online, he’s gone round to a female’s house, both females in this instance have children.”
Meanwhile, in Blackpool, a Polish man called Marcin Pawlow has died in the street near the town centre. Detective Superintendent Andrew Murphy and Detective Chief Inspector Dean Holden are hunting a killer who stabbed him to death before going on the run.