Dale Smith

PC Dale Smith: Call Sign 833 Sgt Dale Smith: Call Sign 54

Smithy joined the police immediately after leaving the army, serving 5 years in the Queen’s Royal Fusiliers, something that gelled him to Bob Cryer, the long serving Sergeant who had also served as a Fusilier.

As a PC, Smithy was perceived as racist and homophobic, when infact he was neither, he just didn’t agree with political correctness or pussyfooting around. Brave to a fault, Smithy would repeatedly act without thinking through the consequences, offering himself in place of someone else as a hostage.

PC Gary McCann was sure that Smithy was racist and the two were constantly at odds, matters coming to a head when Gary was attacked and beaten. Smithy hadn’t received the call due to a problem with his radio and felt his colleagues doubted his story. Smithy worked hard to find the people responsible and his series of events were backed up by a local youth who had seen Smithy dealing with a victim at the time of the call. Smithy and Gary settled for a truce and Gary left soon after to take up a sergeant’s position at another station.

Probably Smithy’s closest friend at Sun Hill when a PC – not that he’d admit it - Nick Klein was the exact opposite to Smithy. Friendly, cheeky and laid back, Nick had a knack for people and they took to him straight away. Smithy on the other hand thought Nick was too soft and the pair enjoyed a tempestuous friendship, each helping the other out of deep trouble on occasion.

Faced with increasing hostility from Superintendent Tom Chandler who saw Smithy as a loose cannon and far too dangerous to have around, Smithy applied to SO19 where he was finally accepted, despite reservations from his Inspector, Andrew Monroe. Smithy’s first job was at a school where a father was holding his son and a teacher hostage. After being backed all the way by his Sergeant; Bob Cryer, a cruel twist of fate saw Smithy miss his intended target and accidentally hit a handcuffed Bob after the sergeant had thrown himself at Finnessey. Bob bore him no malice and Smithy eventually forgave himself after a visit to Bob at home before Bob’s leavers do.


As a Sergeant, Smithy thought nothing of coming back to ‘boss’ his old colleagues around. His first couple of days put Smithy at odds with Inspector Gina Gold who had heard about him before he’d arrived. Soon discovering they had more in common than they had initially thought, Smithy and Gina became firm friends, Gina becoming Smithy’s sole confidant. When confronted with Gina’s cervical cancer, Smithy covered for Gina and kept her secret, though urging her to tell her old flame and close friend – Superintendent Adam Okaro. Gina refused and battled on with only Smithy [and later Jonathan Fox] as support, giving Smithy a key to let himself in to the house with to allow him to keep an eye on her.

Surprised to see Luke Ashton back at Sun Hill, having accused Luke of not backing him up when he’d first arrived at Sun Hill as a PC, Smithy was even more surprised that Luke had been married and was in the process of a divorce to PC Kerry Young.

Kerry and Smithy had a very complicated relationship, sleeping together a few times during their time at Sun Hill. After an argument which lead to a drunken night with Smithy - all whilst seeing fellow officer, PC Cameron Tait – Kerry had to take the morning after pill. Unfortunately for both Kerry and Smithy, their colleague, Gabriel Kent, got wind of what had happened and twisted it to make Kerry believe that Smithy had raped her. Kerry refused to make it official, though when it got out – thanks to PC Andrea Dunbar, an undercover journalist, Smithy felt the pressure from all colleagues resulting in the station being divided as to whose side they were on. Kerry eventually dropped the allegation after realising that she believed Smithy incapable of rape. Kerry started to question just how good a friend Gabriel was, especially after he attempted to kiss her whilst out on a call, and he later raped her. Fearing no one would believe her, Kerry kept it quiet and waged a war on Gabriel, threatening to out him for what he was, her own behaviour becoming more erratic. Smithy attempted to help her and remained loyal, even after she started a relationship with David Radford, a member of a local high profile crime family. Kerry became too close to outing Gabriel and he panicked, shooting her, her death blamed for the time being on the Sun Hill Sniper. Smithy went off the rails, having declared his love for Kerry, and had her reciprocate it minutes before she’d been shot, and tried to attack David Radford. After a talking to from Gina, Smithy started to calm down – only to find out that Kerry had been pregnant, and Gabriel was the father.

Continued