‘Sean Duffy is not based on me – but there are elements’
The Catholic RUC officer Adrian McKinty consulted for his Troubles series on what he got right and wrong and why his books matter
An RUC and British army vehicle checkpoint during The Troubles. Photograph: Alain Le Garsmeur/Getty Images
I joined the RUC in 1989, right after I finished my A Levels. I grew up in north Belfast where the unemployment in the ’80s was running at 35 per cent. Your career choices were limited to emigrating to England or America or joining the police, dole office or civil service. I decided to join the police.