TV show "COPS"

[Monkeyleg]

So, I'm at the gym tonight and the TV on the treadmill gets just one channel. COPS is on. A few minutes into the show, an officer is chasing a vehicle from a hit-and-run minor fender bender with a bus.

The driver pulls over, and the cop gets out of the squad, stands out in the street about even with the driver's car door, draws his gun, points it at the driver and tells him to get out of the car. The cop had called for backup, but didn't wait. I figured the driver was a major bad guy, but it turns out the hit-and-run was it. There were some apparently minor outstanding warrants found later. Doesn't drawing a gun on a driver from a fender bender seem a bit excessive?

Later in the show, a sheriffs deputy is called to a house by a woman afraid of a baby snake that made its way into her closet. The deputy takes everything out of the closet, checks it over, but can't find the snake. So he takes a claw hammer and removes the baseboards from the closet. Still no snake. He hammered out a two-foot hole in the drywall. It didn't sound like he had asked he woman for permission.

I know they're probably mugging it up for the cameras, but it doesn't leave a good impression.

[Regolith]

Later in the show, a sheriffs deputy is called to a house by a woman afraid of a baby snake that made its way into her closet. The deputy takes everything out of the closet, checks it over, but can't find the snake. So he takes a claw hammer and removes the baseboards from the closet. Still no snake. He hammered out a two-foot hole in the drywall. It didn't sound like he had asked he woman for permission.

Well, at least he didn't look for the snake with his gun...

[Perd Hapley]

The second one sounds like something the producers might have set up, or at least egged on. If they promised me enough money, I'd let 'em go to town on the walls and baseboards. The first one, yeah, seems excessive.

It ticks me off that anybody's calling police over a baby snake, but on the other hand, at least those cops weren't out harassing people over made-up crimes.

[RoadKingLarry]

Well, at least he didn't look for the snake with his gun...

Had your blood pressure meds for the day?

http://kfor.com/2013/08/12/officers-record-cleared-after-deadly-shooting/

[Regolith]

Had your blood pressure meds for the day?

http://kfor.com/2013/08/12/officers-record-cleared-after-deadly-shooting/

Yeah...saw that when I was looking for the link to the first story. 

[Jamie B]

Cops on the show suffer from TV testosterone, trying to be bad asses.

They are too stupid to recognize that there is a recording of their excessive actions.


Sent from my iPhone

[vaskidmark]

Cops on the show suffer from TV testosterone, trying to be bad asses.

They are too stupid to recognize that there is a recording of their excessive actions.


Sent from my iPhone

They are encourged to be excessive.  Without that there would be no show.

It's like professional wresteling - staged, fake, and stupid.  A first-year law student could get most arrestees cut loose at trial just on constitutional rights violations - if it weren't for the fact that so many of the arrestees insist on confessing to the Lindburgh kidnapping along with everything else.

stay safe.

[Monkeyleg]

The first one, with the cop drawing and aiming his gun, just seemed wrong. He was not in the driver's blind spot. When the driver started to exit the vehicle, the cop didn't shout commands to him to keep his hands in sight. The way the driver exited the vehicle, he could have easily had a gun in his right hand. If the guy was bad enough for the cop to pull a gun, I would think it would warrant waiting for backup.

[41magsnub]

The camera crews have an impact.  Here is an example from the TV Show "Wardens" which is COPS for game wardens.  An out of state hunter and his buddy were slow tagging his Elk, it was still on the ground and the two hunters were figuring out how they were going to recover it from the swamp it ran into.  A warden showed up with a TV crew in tow and felt the need to cite him and confiscate the animal.  They technically were in violation of the law, but a little common sense would have been nice. 

http://mtstandard.com/helena/news/local/elk-citation-angers-hunter-serves-as-warning-to-others/article_31820e58-3293-57cb-8e3d-925ba54b6a5b.html

[lupinus]

I can no longer watch COPS without borrowing some of the wifes blood pressure medication.

[HankB]

I'm sure the majority of these shows are staged - COPS, Moonshiners, Storage Wars - and so forth and so on.

COPS in particular - I watched a few shows years ago, but quit in disgust when I saw REPEATED forced entries by NON-UNIFORMED officers made with no attempt to present a warrant.

Some scruffy dude in jeans and a dirty T-shirt yelling "POLICE! POLICE!" kicking in a door without any actual attempt to identify himself or present a warrant will - justifiably - draw fire most places. But on TV - it never does.

Fake. Staged. Rehearsed.

[zxcvbob]

Wasn't a "COPS" cameraman shot and killed recently?

[AJ Dual]

The camera crews have an impact.  Here is an example from the TV Show "Wardens" which is COPS for game wardens.  An out of state hunter and his buddy were slow tagging his Elk, it was still on the ground and the two hunters were figuring out how they were going to recover it from the swamp it ran into.  A warden showed up with a TV crew in tow and felt the need to cite him and confiscate the animal.  They technically were in violation of the law, but a little common sense would have been nice. 

http://mtstandard.com/helena/news/local/elk-citation-angers-hunter-serves-as-warning-to-others/article_31820e58-3293-57cb-8e3d-925ba54b6a5b.html

I've heard things have improved a bit under the Governorship of Scott Walker, but all my interactions with the WI DNR in the past leads me to believe most DNR agents would act like that whether or not a TV crew was present.

[vaskidmark]

Wasn't a "COPS" cameraman shot and killed recently?

Yes.  By the cops.

Go Google it.

stay safe.

[zxcvbob]

Yes.  By the cops.

Go Google it.

stay safe.

It was a rhetorical question, in response to "Fake. Staged. Rehearsed."  It might be staged and rehearsed, but unfortunately it's not all fake.

[HankB]

It was a rhetorical question, in response to "Fake. Staged. Rehearsed."  It might be staged and rehearsed, but unfortunately it's not all fake.

The accidents during movie filming that kill actors (Vic Morrow, Brandon Lee, and John-Eric Hexum come to mind) come from carelessness and/or stupidity, but the film is still fake.

[Boomhauer]

The driver pulls over, and the cop gets out of the squad, stands out in the street about even with the driver's car door, draws his gun, points it at the driver and tells him to get out of the car. The cop had called for backup, but didn't wait. I figured the driver was a major bad guy, but it turns out the hit-and-run was it. There were some apparently minor outstanding warrants found later. Doesn't drawing a gun on a driver from a fender bender seem a bit excessive?

You have somebody who just was involved in an accident, refused to stop, and refused to stop when the officer attempted to pull them over, but finally stopped (what I am reading from your description) That is not rational behavior.

Are they drunk? High? A criminal with warrants who thinks they've got nothing to lose by resisting? Are they going to attempt to kill the officer? What the hell are they going to do next? You'd damn well draw your gun and order the driver to get out, slowly in that case.

Lots of crazy people out there. Crazy people that have decided to shoot it out with the cops over a nothing traffic stop. Hell, I was on a SAR mission and the people we were looking for were *expletive deleted*ing idiots and were going to shoot it out with us using a shitty high point with two rounds because they thought the calls of "Fire Department! Search and Rescue! were "Sheriff's Department!". They were  not criminals, or in any kind of trouble, but they were nuts.

[BlueStarLizzard]

I think I'm more amazed at the fact that so many of you have actually watched that show.

I don't think I've ever made it more than a minute past the opening credits...

[RoadKingLarry]

Is this "Cops" a new show?

[Monkeyleg]

You have somebody who just was involved in an accident, refused to stop, and refused to stop when the officer attempted to pull them over, but finally stopped (what I am reading from your description) That is not rational behavior.

I didn't see any part where the driver refused to stop. Perhaps it was earlier in the segment, but I just saw what looked like a normal speed traffic stop.

[Boomhauer]

I didn't see any part where the driver refused to stop. Perhaps it was earlier in the segment, but I just saw what looked like a normal speed traffic stop.

Then why did you say "chasing"?

[BlueStarLizzard]

Is this "Cops" a new show?

no. It's been on since the 90's? maybe the 80's?

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Then why did you say "chasing"?

If you don't stop at an accident you are being chased when they pull you over


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[230RN]

I thought hit-and-run was a felony, at least here.  Wouldn't that make it a felony stop?

Watched parts of that show once or twice.  Got disgusted. 

[Tuco]

Television has an off button.
Use it and become part of the solution.