David Wilson's Crime Files

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A BBC TV channel for Scotland which will broadcast every evening and will show drama, factual, comedy and news programmes made in Scotland

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Factual: Crime & Justice

Professor David Wilson explores Scottish crimes.

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David Wilson

Fiona Walker

Harry Bell

David Wilson's Crime Files: Series 2: Ethics of Policing

Ethics of Policing

Series 2

BBC Scotland - David Wilson's Crime Files, Series 2, Ethics of Policing

Criminologist David Wilson asks whether the ends justify the means when solving crime.

Criminologist David Wilson explores some of the ethical quandaries that plague our criminal justice system - is there a line that police shouldn’t cross when hunting the bad guy?

Criminologist Professor David Wilson presents the second series of talk show Crime Files. In this episode, David and guests discuss the complex ethical issues that face our police today and ask whether the ends justify the means when solving crime.

Investigative journalist Fiona Walker travels to the small town of Winchburgh in West Lothian to examine the century-old case of two murdered children. She recounts the unique way in which the bodies had been preserved and how two eminent pathologists from Edinburgh helped crack the case by deducing the identities of the two young boys. However, Fiona is about to find out all is not what it seems in this horrendous case.   

Fiona joins David in the studio to show him some documents that put the whole investigation into an unflattering light. These documents are personal recollections from one of the pathologists who helped solve the case and raise some major ethical questions about the medical practices used back then and what part consent played.

David’s next guest is former deputy chief constable and SPA board member Tom Halpin. He and David look at more modern police practices that raise potential ethical concerns; specifically the issue of stop and search. David questions whether Scotland’s implementation may be going too far and whether bias profiling plays any part in it. Native Glaswegian Tom also recounts his own personal experience with stop and search as a young man.    

David’s final guest is former undercover officer for the serious crime squad Simon McLean. He speaks about his recently published memoir, The Ten Percent, which recounts his early years on the force and how he often found himself pushed into the grey areas of policing. Simon gives us a unique glimpse of the turmoil caused when the rules are stretched to the limit, where plain clothes officers must infiltrate and suppress the very worst among us - the dealers, the shooters and the gangsters. He explains that it is a job for those who are willing to do what is required, and for him that is the officers who fall into The Ten Percent.

David Wilson's Crime Files: Series 2

A BBC TV channel for Scotland which will broadcast every evening and will show drama, factual, comedy and news programmes made in Scotland


Professor David Wilson and guests discuss Scottish crimes.

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David Wilson's Crime Files

Series 2

Ethics of Policing

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