Alison Powell is a Detective Superintendent seconded to Central Police from an outside force.
Background[]
Powell worked for an outside police force (potentially East Midlands Constabulary), but was seconded to Central Police to liaise with their Serious and Organised Crime Unit and take part in Operation Pear Tree.
Series 5[]
Episode 1[]
During AC-12's investigation of a police convoy ambush that resulted in the deaths of three Authorised Firearms Officer's, Powells name comes up as the senior officer who has under MOPI restricted access to a crime report relating to Lisa McQueen and various other incidents involving the Organised Crime Syndicate.
She is visited by DI Kate Fleming and DS Steve Arnott at her offices in a nondescript building labelled "Police Services", with the two officers remarking they are unfamiliar with both her and the location. Having previously called Superintendent Ted Hastings into her office, she informs the three that they have uncovered information related to a classified joint-force operation that she is not permitted to discuss with them.
When confronted about the fact her undercover officer failed to provide their handlers with information related to the hijacking of the convoy from the Eastfield Police Storage Facility, which resulted in the deaths of police officers, she refuses, stating that the operation is at a vital stage and cannot afford to be disrupted.
Powell is later visited again by AC-12, where she is told by an impatient Superintendent Ted Hastings that due to the fact her undercover officer has been participating in violent crime, he plans to issue them and her with Regulation 15 Notice's unless she divulges information. She reluctantly informs the detectives that she is SIO of Operation Pear Tree, a secretive joint operation between Central Police and an outside force aimed at infiltrating the Organised Crime Syndicate. Powell is also forced to admit that neither she nor other members of her team have been able to contact their undercover operative for months. Despite AC-12 believing her undercover officer is Lisa McQueen, she shocks them when she reveals the insider is actually Detective Sergeant John Corbett from Serious and Organised Crime.
Episode 2[]
When AC-12 officers DI Kate Fleming and DS Steve Arnott interview Inspector Denise Cameron, they discover Cameron was fired from Operation Pear Tree as both she and DS John Corbett had lost faith in Powells direction, believing she was shifting away from trying to uncover high level corrupt officers and just focus on smaller activities by the Organised Crime Syndicate. This version of events is backed up by Corbett himself when he kidnaps DS Steve Arnott, insisting Powell and other higher ranking officers are doing their best to cover up links between senior police officers and organised crime.
After receiving authority from DCC Andrea Wise, DI Kate Fleming, DC Eldwick and other AC-12 officers enter Powell's offices in Police Services to make copies of all their information. Powell is furious at the intrusion and orders her staff to defy the anti-corruption officers, but relents when threatened with arrest by Fleming.