Okay, I admit it! Just like you I love to watch mindless yahoos being chased down and busted by the good guys. The masterpiece of these ultimate, in-your-face reality shows is of course, Cops. But in the recent times it has been followed by a steady train of wanna-be shows: Worlds Wildest Police Pursuits, Maximum Exposure, Real Stories of the Highway Patrol, The Real Miami Cops, LAPD Life on the Beat, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera (quiet nod to The King & I).
The simple premise: have a guy with a camera follow the cops, is actually a brilliant idea. It allows average citizens sitting in their living rooms to glimpse a fraction of the job done every day by those who serve in Law Enforcement. However, these shows also skew that image, sometimes to extremes, by ignoring all but the really exciting, scary, or crazy moments caught on tape during several weeks of taping (if not longer). Some other shows go the lazy way and actually attend Law Enforcement conventions and trade shows to solicit agencies to submit In-Car videos and other tapes for public consumption.
The stuff they show IS exciting otherwise these shows would not exist. Yet each time I watch a clip I can't help but shudder a little at the possibility the viewers will accept this to be ALL we do; chase people, fight with people, and act cocky around obviously disturbed individuals.
And let's not forget the paperwork. You see the arrest but never the "after" where the Officer is off the road for an hour or more processing the prisoner and completing his report. If the arrest was from a pursuit the Officer's night is over. He/she will be typing their fingers off 'till the next shift arrives for duty.
The biggest issues I have with what these shows present are 1) outdated, lax, and just plain stupid departmental policies and 2) cops trying to be actors. I can't tell you how many times these shows show traffic stops for "no turn signal", or "running a stop sign", or even "acting a bit suspicious" that freefall into full-blown vehicle and then foot pursuits. As a member of the Law Enforcement family I get chills when I see an agency that still allows such pursuits to occur. Most progressive agencies now limit pursuits to violent felony incidents such as robberies, rapes, and car-jackings. The immediate and articulable threat the suspect poses to the community should be such that a reasonable Officer can justify the risks of engaging in a pursuit. Now don't jump on me for this, I am NOT anti-pursuit, I am PRO intelligent pursuit. I can't look a mother in the eye and tell her her son or daughter is dead because a suspect was observed in a drug area, might have been buying or selling drugs, and did not use his turn signal so we pursued him until he crashed into their child's car at 110mph.
As for the "Hollywood" bug that seems to bite Oficers featured on these shows, let's face it people, if we were any good as actors we would not be cops. But stick a camera in an Officers face and suddenly he thinks himself to be The Lone Ranger, Batman, and Harry Callahan all rolled into one. If the poor bastard isn't spouting off about how much he loves his community and hates the criminals who frequent it, he's pontificating about the dangers he faces and that the good people of (your city, county, state here) should be glad to have him as their hero and saviour. I have long believed my actions speak volumes more than words ever could about who I am and what I believe. I recall the words of Sir Winston Churchill, "All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." I would echo that sentiment and say that as Law Enforcement Officers it is our DUTY to defend FREEDOM and support JUSTICE by serving our communities with HONOR, MERCY, and HOPE.
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