Why doesn't the show COPS fully realize the duties of an officer?

[K9 Police]

Reminds of an episode where an officer ended up shooting a suspect. Never saw him touch a pen!

K9

[rdp]

You shoot a suspect here and the only pen you touch is signing the admin leave slip.

[HamptonTravels5]

If COPS were to actually show all that stuff you guys were talking about, nobody would be watching it. That's where you get the books on cops' lives to get the whole menu.

I love watching COPS and it looks like that most of you do too, but I'm getting the picture from you guys that COPS is always showing exciting stuff when it actually doesn't.

I've seen episodes that did try to get the boring part of a cop's life down. Domestic disturbance calls are one of the boring parts of the show, because nothing really happens, just everybody talking to each other, which sometimes lead up to an arrest. That's basically it. One episode involved a missing boy. Cops trying to search the neighborhood for the kid until they found him. Nothing exciting, right? There was one episode of cops trying to find a woman's teeth!! Anybody seen that one?

There's an episode in Washington state about a dog they needed to take to animal control. Another one in New York state about a snake in someone's house. And sometimes when suspects are taken in, they are usually cooperative, which means no fighting was going on. Nothing exciting about those things.

Granted, they don't show the tedious wait on sting operations and paperwork and stuff, but the show is only a half-hour long and it's not aired to just those interested in law enforcement. Got to make good of those 30 minutes, you know

[mcsap]

We know all of that and that is why it is not a factual representation of police work. FEW officers do that much in a shift. Most of the similar type call shown do NOT end up with a big foot chase, car chase, tackle 'em and cuff 'em scenario.

But, all of the wild stuff is what you the public wants to see.

[Stump]

I can just see one of my guys going lights/sirens to a parking complaint if they were on COPS. LOL
COPS should tape my guys at about 0415. They'll see cops sleeping, hanging out at Tim Hortons or KK, or writing parking tickets.

I wish COPS would show more of their home lives so people will understand a little better.

[Bad MF]

I just love how some of these cops on COPS give those 5 minute little speeches to the camera after they do something right........it's like"enough already, back to the action!!!!"


A really cool show would be to somehow place a few hidden micro-cameras inside and outside a police car, and catch the REAL DEAL about a cop's day at work, especially in a small town like mine. You'd see guys parking their cars in the park for a butt break, hanging out in a "speed trap i.e. "nap time". and ,like everyone else says, the 1% of the day that is actually somewhat exciting. People, especially young people, need to see more of the day to day tedium of the job of police work.It really is just 99% dealing with people, and their various BS. I'm sure a great many kids watch COPS growing up and are the first to exclaim"Yeah, I wanna be a cop!!!!" They don't show guys fighting to stay awake after doing 4 hours of paperwork until 4 am, and then waiting to see if a drunk college student throws up so you can take him to the hospital.

-----I'm not a cop, but I work in a job where I talk to them almost daily.I learn more from a 5 minute chat with a local cop, than from my classes taken earning my BS in CJ.

[Stump]

What job do you do, mf?

[Lawson]

The Day COPS starts showing the officer's home lives.... is the day I stop watching COPS.

I Think COPS has the right idea not showing the boring stuff. I mean the show brings a lot of people to have an interest in LE [It did me! ] And if they showed all that crap, it wouldnt be as big a show as it is, thus no one would watch it and life would be crappy.

Not to mention, If I want to watch Boring TV, I have CSPAN!

[MUGGSY09]

Its lacking Ken C

[AnthonyM83]

Why doesn't it show the boring parts? Well, cause I'd hardly ever watch it. Just like soap operas don't show the parts where they brush their teeth. Kid shows don't show them doing their homework. Don't show them sleeping. Most other people my age I've talked to know that chases and shootouts isn't all they do (though they do think it happens much more often than it does).

I'd like to see more episodes on homelife though, AS RELATES TO THE JOB. I've only seen a few of those. But I don't want to see them type a report. It doesn't capture my interest. We know the outcome. It's the norm. COPS shows the action, the mysterious, or the funny calls, the stuff people are actually interested in because it's NOT mundane. That's the point.

[Bad MF]

It is a TV show,and they need to do what they have to in order to get ratings.The average viewer, who is not interested in working in LE, does not care about cops' home lives, or doing paperwork.They want to see 6 cops cuffing and stuffing a bloody naked guy, or a guy on PCP going nuts in a cell.

[jaunt10]

has anyone seen Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine? He has a good interview with a producer from COPS asking why they dont show the police going after corporate, white collar criminals. The producer said "if you get the corporate criminals to shoot at and run from the police then you have a show if not then there's no ratings." That about sums it up for why they dont show the homelives or paper work of cops.

[mcsap]

COPs is a reality show that only shows video of reality that will keep their ratings up.

[Group9]

I'd like to see the COPS episode where instead of a big bust or warrant service, they show the narcotics agents staring at a house on surveillance all day waiting for a load of dope to show up that never arrives! :(

[EX_529]

has anyone seen Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine? He has a good interview with a producer from COPS asking why they dont show the police going after corporate, white collar criminals. The producer said "if you get the corporate criminals to shoot at and run from the police then you have a show if not then there's no ratings." That about sums it up for why they dont show the homelives or paper work of cops.

Perhaps they need to shoot up a couple of white collar criminals to scare them up a bit. Seeing that corporate crime costs far more to society than any amount of blue collar crime.