''World's Wildest Police Videos'' (shortened to ''Police Videos'' in Season 4) is an American

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, re ...

TV series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed b ...

that ran on Fox from 1998 to 2001. In 2012, Spike announced that it had commissioned 13 new episodes with the revival of the original name and John Bunnell returning as host, which premiered on May 7, 2012, and ended on August 13, 2012. The series deals with police videos from across the world. Video footage of

car chase A car chase or vehicle pursuit is the vehicular overland chase of one party by another, involving at least one automobile or other wheeled motor vehicle in pursuit, commonly hot pursuit of suspects by law enforcement. The rise of the automotive i ...

s, subsequent arrests,

robberies Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

riot A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targete ...

s and other crimes appear on the show.

Production

''World's Wildest Police Videos'' began in 1998 and ran for four seasons, comprising a total of 56 episodes, before being officially cancelled in 2002. In Season 4, the name was shortened to Police Videos. Most of the police videos featured on the show were from various

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

police The police are a Law enforcement organization, constituted body of Law enforcement officer, persons empowered by a State (polity), state, with the aim to law enforcement, enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citize ...

departments, but footage from other nations such as

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

also appeared. Video sources included cameras from

police car A police car (also called a police cruiser, police interceptor, patrol car, area car, cop car, prowl car, squad car, radio car, or radio motor patrol) is a ground vehicle used by police and law enforcement for transportation during patrols a ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

s, store security systems, news reporters, and private

citizens Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

from around the world. Much of the footage had previously only been seen by law enforcement officials. The show became popular with viewers. It had the highest ratings of any Fox network television special to that date. It was also featured on ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American first-run syndicated news broadcasting newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Paramount Streaming. ET also airs in Aus ...

'' and was re-aired later that month. It was the first sweeps-month special ever to run twice during a sweeps period by Fox.

Format

The series began with the series of specials entitled ''World's Scariest Police Chases'', which was broadcast on February 2, 1997. It was narrated by actor

Peter Coyote Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author and narrator of films, theatre, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films such as ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), '' Cro ...

, and featured commentary by Captain C. W. Jensen of the

Portland Police Bureau The Portland Police Bureau (PPB), officially the Portland Bureau of Police, is the law enforcement agency of the city of Portland, the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. While oversight of Portland's bureaus shifts among the five City ...

. Five additional episodes of ''World's Scariest Police Chases'' aired, with the second on April 27, 1997, third on November 4, 1997, fourth on February 17, 1998, fifth on April 28, 1998, and the sixth on April 29, 1999. A further two special episodes called ''World's Scariest Police Shootouts'' aired around this time as well. It was hosted by

John Bunnell John Edwin Bunnell (born May 25, 1944) is a former American sheriff of Multnomah County, Oregon. Bunnell is best known for presenting '' World's Wildest Police Videos'' between 1998 and 2001 and its revival briefly in 2012. Background Bunnell wa ...

, a retired

officer and former

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

Multnomah County, Oregon Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland– Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. T ...

. The two episodes focused on police shootouts rather than chases themselves, although some of the clips featured a car chase along with a shootout. The first episode of ''World's Scariest Police Shootouts'' aired on May 15, 1997, and the second episode, ''World's Scariest Police Shootouts 2'', aired on April 23, 1998. Both episodes were narrated and hosted by John Bunnell. The episodes featured more well-known content, such as the North Hollywood shootout, the

murder of Darrell Lunsford On January 23, 1991, in Garrison, Texas, police officer Constable Darrell Lunsford pulled over a suspicious vehicle. Inside the vehicle were three men transporting marijuana from Texas to Illinois. After Lunsford requested to search the trunk of th ...

, the

1991 Sacramento hostage crisis On April 4, 1991, 41 employees and customers were taken hostage and held at a Good Guys! electronics store at the corner of 65th Street and Stockton Boulevard in Sacramento, California, near the Florin Mall (now Florin Towne Centre) for appro ...

, White supremacist

Chevie Kehoe Chevie O'Brien Kehoe (born January 29, 1973) is an American convicted murderer. He is serving three consecutive life sentences for the kidnapping, torture, and murder of William Mueller and his family. His accomplice, Daniel Lewis Lee, was Capit ...

and his shootout with police, and the 1996 Honolulu hostage crisis. Eventually, the show was broadcast weekly. Bunnell's commentary was often characterized by puns, multiple clichés, over-dramatic descriptions of the struggle between good and evil, the police and criminals, victims and abusers, etc. Although Bunnell hosted and commented on most of the show, most police video segments were dubbed with the actual law enforcement officials acting in the situation presented. Tire screeching noises, horn beeps, automobile collision sounds and sirens are often

overdubbed Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...

into these segments; this is especially noticeable in footage where vehicles are driving over dry grass or sand. It has been widely noticed that the same voice is used in almost every helicopter footage scene, regardless of the location the footage is from. This uncredited role is said to be that of Lawrence Welk III, who usually goes by "Larry Welk," and is a reporter and helicopter traffic pilot for

KCAL-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). Both stations share studios at the CBS ...

and

KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...

in Los Angeles. He is also the grandson of famed musician

Lawrence Welk Lawrence Welk (March 11, 1903 – May 17, 1992) was an American accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted the '' The Lawrence Welk Show'' from 1951 to 1982. His style came to be known as "champagne music" to his radio, te ...

. Originally, a typical episode included sections entitled: "

PIT maneuver The PIT maneuver (precision immobilization technique) or TVI (tactical vehicle intervention) is a pursuit tactic by which a pursuing car can force a fleeing car to turn sideways abruptly, causing the driver to lose control and stop. It was d ...

," "Car Thieves," "Rainy Chase," " Big Rig

Road Block A roadblock is a temporary installation set up to control or block traffic along a road. Roadblock may also refer to: * Traffic obstruction ** Raasta roko ("obstruct the road" in Hindi), a commonly practiced form of protest in India Media and ent ...

," "Jumping Off Bridge," and " Drunk Drivers." This was dropped after the first season, and replaced with a string of clips, each commentated on by Bunnell. After a few videos, a small clip of Bunnell would be shown, often describing the police mentality behind the videos that were about to appear. Occasionally, episodes were dedicated to police officers killed in the line of duty and an episode featured the footage of the crash of

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was a scheduled flight serving the route Addis Ababa–Nairobi–Brazzaville–Lagos–Abidjan. On 23 November 1996, the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 767-200ER, was hijacked en route from Addis Ababa to Na ...

in 1996. A

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...

based on the series was released for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a di ...

in 2001, entitled '' World's Scariest Police Chases'', also featuring Bunnell. The game received mixed reviews, ranging from a 3.6/10 from

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

.com, to a 9/10 from

Official PlayStation Magazine (UK) ''Official PlayStation Magazine'' may refer to one of several magazines: *'' Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine'', a U.S. magazine by Ziff Davis *'' PlayStation: The Official Magazine'', a U.S. magazine by Future Publishing *''PlayStation Official ...

. There were also home video releases on VHS of the first three ''World's Scariest Police Chases'' around late 1997, which included never-before-seen footage that wasn't shown on FOX. The specials would be re-released as Deluxe Versions, with minor differences.

Series overview

Episodes

Specials (1997–2003)

Season 1 (1998)

Season 2 (1998–99)

Season 3 (1999–00)

Season 4 (2000–01)

Season 5 (2012)

In pop culture

In the ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their ch ...

'' episode "

Quagmire's Baby "Quagmire's Baby" is the sixth episode of the eighth season of the animated comedy series '' Family Guy''. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 15, 2009. The episode centers on neighbor Glenn Quagmire, who suddenly disco ...

", there is a sequence of

Fred Flintstone Fred Flintstone is the main character of the animated sitcom '' The Flintstones'', which aired during prime-time on ABC during the original series' run from 1960 to 1966. Fred is the husband of Wilma Flintstone and father of Pebbles Flintsto ...

fleeing from the police in the family car, in an episode of ''World's Wildest Police Videos''. Flintstone crashes, and attempts to flee on foot, but is delayed by the

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

skidaddle running effect. A similar sequence was used in the episode " Something, Something, Something, Dark Side", when

TIE fighter The Twin Ion Engine (TIE) fighter is a series of fictional starfighters featured in the ''Star Wars'' universe. TIE fighters are depicted as fast, agile, yet fragile starfighters produced by Sienar Fleet Systems for the Galactic Empire and by ...

s and a

Star Destroyer Star Destroyers are capital ships in the fictional ''Star Wars'' universe. Star Destroyers were produced by Kuat Drive Yards, later Kuat-Entralla Engineering, and serve as "the signature vessel of the fleet" for the Galactic Republic, Galactic Em ...

were chasing the ''

Millennium Falcon The ''Millennium Falcon'' is a fictional starship in the '' Star Wars'' franchise. Designed by Joe Johnston for the movie '' Star Wars'' (1977), it has subsequently appeared in '' The Star Wars Holiday Special'' (1978), ''The Empire Strikes Ba ...

''. These sequences were narrated by Bunnell himself. It was also parodied on ''

MADtv ''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series originally inspired by ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' magazine. In its initial run, it aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox from 1995 to 2009. After a one-off reuni ...

'' as "World's Queeniest Police Chases". Some of the

Alarm für Cobra 11 - Die Autobahnpolizei An alarm device is a mechanism that gives an audible, visual or other kind of alarm signal to alert someone to a problem or condition that requires urgent attention. Alphabetical musical instruments Etymology The word ''alarm'' comes from th ...

Der Clown ''Der Clown'' is a German television series that aired between 21 April 1998 and 11 October 2001. It ran for 46 episodes and starred Sven Martinek, Diana Frank, Thomas Anzenhofer, and Volkmar Kleinert Volkmar Kleinert (born 20 September 1938) ...

and one from

Die Wache ''Die Wache'' is a German weekly police procedural show that was broadcast from 1994 until 2006 by RTL Television. Set in a fictional police station in Cologne, it was modelled on the British series ''The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British p ...

car crashing clips were used in 2 episodes in 1998.

Worldwide syndication

Americas

* United States: April 2, 1998 – September 7, 2001 on Fox. The series was syndicated on both CourtTV/TruTV from 2002–11, and on Spike TV/Spike until 2015. It was also seen as ''World's Most Dramatic Police Chases'' in the early morning on

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

. Spanish language re-runs were also syndicated on

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...

. *

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

Televisa Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April 2021, Televisa and Univision Communications announce ...

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

: truTV Latin America * Canada:

mentv History2 is a Canadian English language specialty channel dedicated to airing historic and non-historical programming of military, science, and technology interest. The channel is owned by Corus Entertainment, with its name licensed from the U.S. ...

, CourtTV Canada *

: weekly (Sunday) mash-up show consisting of 4 shows mixed together. Aired on Universal Channel.

Europe

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

Viasat 6 Viasat 6 (formerly known as TV6 until February 11, 2011) is one of the thematic television channels of Antenna Group. History The channel launched on January 28, 2008. On April 1, 2013, the aspect ratio was changed to 16:9 and the channel got ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

: Aired and rerun on ZTV. *

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Viasat 4 TV3+ (formerly V4 and Viasat 4) is a television channel broadcasting to Norway owned by the Viaplay Group. The channel was launched test on 28 September 2007, a week 14 June 2014 after the launch of the digital terrestrial television network in N ...

* Germany: on RTL, called ''Im Einsatz, die spektakulärsten Polizei-Videos der Welt'', commentated by former American police officer Stephan T. Rose. * Ireland: TV3 *

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

: SkjárEinn (2000-2001) * United Kingdom:

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels *Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 *Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...

ITV4 ITV4 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV (TV network), ITV network. The channel h ...

, Channel 5,

Men & Motors Men & Motors was a men's lifestyle television channel in the UK. It was the last remaining station operated by the former Granada Sky Broadcasting joint venture, set up by Granada Television (now part of ITV plc) and satellite broadcaster Briti ...

and

CBS Reality CBS Reality is a European television channel broadcast in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. History CBS Reality was launched as Reality TV on 1 December 1999 as a joint-venture between UPCtv and Zone Vision. In 2005, Liberty Global, owner of ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Skai TV Skai TV (Greek: ΣΚΑΪ) is a Greek free-to-air television network based in Piraeus. It is part of the Skai Group, one of the largest media groups in the country. It was relaunched in its present form on 1 April 2006 in the Athens metropolita ...

* Italy:

AXN Italy AXN was an Italian pay television channel owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. It focused on action-themed programmes, including action series and movies and action reality shows. The channel was launched in October 2005. In March 2009, it laun ...

Asia

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

: antv,

NET. NET (an initialism of News and Entertainment Television, stylized as NET.) is an Indonesian free-to-air television network that was launched on 26 May 2013. It replaced Spacetoon on terrestrial television. The channel's programming is focused ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

MBC Action MBC Action (stylized as ''MBC'ACTION'') is a free-to-air television channel that MBC Group’s action-packed channel that targets young Arabic males. It delivers the best in high-octane Western series, movies and action. shows and sports and ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Star TV Star TV may refer to: * E! (Canadian TV channel) (formerly Star!), a Canadian entertainment news channel * Las Estrellas (Spanish for The Stars), the Mexican television network * Estrella TV (Spanish for Star TV), the American Spanish-language net ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Studio 23 Studio 23 (officially Studio 23, Inc. and previously AMCARA Broadcasting Network) was a Filipino television network owned by ABS-CBN Corporation. The network was named for its flagship station in Metro Manila, DWAC-TV and carried on UHF cha ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

UBC series The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top three ...

Oceania

* Australia: Some premiere episodes were shown on the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

and

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

, and re-runs of all episodes appeared on Fox8. Episodes of the 2012 series began airing on the Seven Network in 2013.

Africa

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

DStv Digital Satellite Television, commonly abbreviated to DStv, is a Sub-Saharan African direct broadcast satellite service owned by MultiChoice and based in Randburg, South Africa. Launched on 6 October 1995, the service provides multiple audio, ...

References

External links

* {{Spike (TV network) programming 1990s American crime television series 2000s American crime television series 1998 American television series debuts 2001 American television series endings 2010s American crime television series 2012 American television series debuts 2012 American television series endings Fox Broadcasting Company original programming Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Spike (TV network) original programming 2010s American reality television series Telemundo original programming TruTV original programming English-language television shows American television series revived after cancellation