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''Cops'' (stylized as COPS) is an American television documentary reality legal programming television series that is currently in its 34th season. It is produced by Langley Productions. It premiered on the
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
network on March 11, 1989. The series, known for chronicling the lives of police officers, follows city police officers and
sheriff's deputies In the United States, a sheriff is an official in a county or independent city responsible for keeping the peace and enforcing the law. Unlike most officials in law enforcement in the United States, sheriffs are usually elected, although so ...
, sometimes backed up by
state police State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction o ...
or other state agencies, during
patrol A patrol is commonly a group of personnel, such as Law enforcement officer, law enforcement officers, military personnel, or Security guard, security personnel, that are assigned to monitor or secure a specific geographic area. Etymology Fro ...
, calls for service, and other police activities including
prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
and
narcotic The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "to make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...
stings, and occasionally the serving of
search Searching or search may refer to: Computing technology * Search algorithm, including keyword search ** :Search algorithms * Search and optimization for problem solving in artificial intelligence * Search engine technology, software for findi ...
/
arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...
warrants at criminal residences. Some episodes have also featured federal agencies. The show assigns television camera crews to accompany police as they perform their duties. The show's formula follows the cinéma vérité convention, which does not consist of any narration, scripted dialogue or
incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...
/added sound effects, depending entirely on the commentary of the officers and on the actions of the people with whom they come into contact, giving the audience a fly on the wall point of view. Each episode typically consists of three self-contained segments which often ended with one or more
arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...
s. It is one of the longest-running television shows in the United States and, in May 2011, it became the longest-running show on Fox (since then, its duration has been surpassed by the duration of '' The Simpsons''). It also became the longest running live action series on Fox, after ''
America's Most Wanted ''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of i ...
'' was canceled after 23 years (that show's host, John Walsh, also appeared on ''Cops'' many times). In 2013, the program moved to Spike TV, now known as Paramount Network.Day, Patrick Kevi
"After 25 years at Fox, 'Cops' moves to Spike,"
May 6, 2013, '' Los Angeles Times'', retrieved May 27, 2017
In late 2007, during the premiere of its 20th season, episodes of ''Cops'' began broadcasting in widescreen, though not in
high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...
. In June 2020, Paramount Network pulled the show from its schedule in response to George Floyd protests following his
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...
while in the custody of the
Minneapolis Police Department The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) is the primary law enforcement agency in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is also the largest police department in Minnesota. Formed in 1867, it is the second-oldest police department in Minnesot ...
, and announced its cancellation days later. The show remains in production for its international and overseas partners, and began to film anew in Spokane County, Washington, with its sheriff's department in October 2020. In September 2021, it was announced that
Fox Nation Fox Nation is an American subscription video on demand service. Announced on February 20, 2018, and launching on November 27 of that year, it is a companion to Fox News Channel carrying programming of interest to its audience, including original ...
picked up the show. The 33rd season premiered on October 1, 2021. The show's 34th season premiered on September 30, 2022.


History

''Cops'' was created by
John Langley John Russell Langley (June 1, 1943 – June 26, 2021) was an American television and film director, writer, and producer who was best known as the creator and executive producer of the television show ''Cops (TV program), Cops'', which premiere ...
and Malcolm Barbour, who tried unsuccessfully for several years to get a network to carry the program. When the
1988 Writers Guild of America strike The 1988 Writers Guild of America strike was a strike action taken by members of both the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) against major United States television and film studios represented by the ...
forced them to find other kinds of programming, the young Fox Television network picked up the low-cost ''Cops'', which had no union writers. The program premiered on Fox on March 11, 1989. When the show went primetime in 1991, and consisted of two episodes in the 8 p.m. hour, it was called ''Primetime Cops'' in promos for several years. The program was one of only two remaining first-run prime-time programs airing on Saturday nights on the four major U.S. broadcast television networks (along with CBS's ''
48 Hours Mystery ''48 Hours'' is an American documentary/news magazine television show broadcast on CBS. The show has been broadcast on the network since January 19, 1988 in the United States. The show airs Saturdays at 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time, ...
''). Malcolm Barbour left from producing ''Cops'' in 1994. For the first 25 seasons, ''Cops'' was broadcast by Fox with reruns of earlier seasons syndicated by local television stations and cable networks, including truTV and G4. After Fox canceled the show in May 2013, Spike picked it up for an additional five seasons, in addition to reruns of previous seasons. The 30th season premiered on June 17, 2017. On August 21, 2017, ''Cops'' celebrated its 1,000th episode with a live special called ''Cops: Beyond the Bust'', hosted by Terry Crews (who plays a police sergeant in the sitcom ''
Brooklyn Nine-Nine ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' is an American police procedural comedy television series that aired on Fox, and later on NBC. The show aired from September 17, 2013, to September 16, 2021, for a total of eight seasons and 153 episodes. Created by Dan G ...
''), which included historical clips from the run of the program as well as reunions of officers and the suspects that they arrested.'Cops Beyond The Bust': Spike Sets Special To Mark 1,000th Episode Of 'Cops'
''Deadline Hollywood'', July 26, 2017
The date of the 1,000th episode also marked a shift of episode premieres from Saturdays to Mondays. The show follows officers in 140 different cities in the United States, Hong Kong, London, and the Soviet Union. In the wake of the protests following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota under police custody, Paramount Network pulled the series from the air ahead of its season 33 premiere, which was scheduled for June 1, 2020. On June 9, 2020, a network spokesperson announced "''Cops'' is not on the Paramount Network and we don't have any current or future plans for it to return". The episode "Party in a Box" (season 28, episode 20, originally aired December 12, 2015) featured Atlanta Police Department Officer Garrett Rolfe, who in 2020 was charged with the
killing of Rayshard Brooks On the night of June 12, 2020, Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old African American man, was fatally shot by Atlanta Police Department (APD) officer Garrett Rolfe. APD officer Devin Brosnan was responding to a complaint that Brooks was asleep in a ...
during a
driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...
investigation. In September 2020, ''Cops'' resumed production. The new episodes were being produced for international syndication and to fulfill contracts overseas that had not expired; Langley did not secure a domestic distributor until 2021. Rocket Rights picked up the show for distribution outside the United States in early-2021, with Langley's distribution unit, Langley Television Distribution (as of 2021) handling sales in the United States. On September 13, 2021, it was announced that
Fox Nation Fox Nation is an American subscription video on demand service. Announced on February 20, 2018, and launching on November 27 of that year, it is a companion to Fox News Channel carrying programming of interest to its audience, including original ...
had picked up the show. The 33rd season premiered on October 1, 2021. Fox Nation would then premiere the show's 34th season on September 30, 2022.


Production

''Cops'' was created by
John Langley John Russell Langley (June 1, 1943 – June 26, 2021) was an American television and film director, writer, and producer who was best known as the creator and executive producer of the television show ''Cops (TV program), Cops'', which premiere ...
and his producing partner Malcolm Barbour. In 1983 they were working on ''Cocaine Blues'', a television series about drugs. As part of his research Langley went on a drug raid with drug enforcement officers and was inspired to create a show focusing on real-life law enforcement. Before that, there had been only a few instances of cinéma vérité productions documenting the work of police officers, such as
Roger Graef Roger Arthur Graef OBE (18 April 1936 – 2 March 2022) was an American-born British documentary filmmaker and theatre director. Born in New York City, he moved to Britain in 1962, where he began a career producing documentary films investiga ...
's '' Police'' in 1982. In the late 1980s, after producing the live syndicated specials ''American Vice: The Doping of a Nation'', ''Murder: Live From Death Row'', and ''Devil's Worship: Exposing Satan's Underground'' all with
Geraldo Rivera Geraldo Rivera (born Gerald Riviera; July 4, 1943) is an American journalist, attorney, author, political commentator, and former television host. He hosted the tabloid talk show '' Geraldo'' from 1987 to 1998. He gained publicity with the liv ...
, Langley and Barbour pitched the ''Cops'' show concept to
Stephen Chao Stephen Chao (born August 9, 1955) is an American internet entrepreneur, television producer, and media executive. He has worked as the president of Fox Television, an independent television producer, president of USA Network, and co-founder of ...
, a
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
programming executive who would one day become president of the Fox Television Stations Group and later USA Network. Chao liked the concept and pitched it to Barry Diller, then Chief Executive Officer of the Fox Network. Malcolm Barbour left from producing ''Cops'' in 1994. A Writers Guild of America strike was occurring at the time and the network needed new material. An unscripted show that did not require writers was ideal for Fox. The first season aired in 1989 and consisted of 15 episodes featuring the
Broward County Sheriff's Office The Broward County Sheriff's Office (BSO) is a public safety organization With 5,400 employees, it is the largest sheriff's department in the state of Florida. Sheriff Gregory Tony heads the agency. BSO was one of the United States' largest fully ...
. Since then, it has often been one of the highest-rated reality-TV programs, in part due to its low production cost (estimated at US$200,000 per episode in the early 1990s) and thus its capacity to show new material each week. The original concept of the show was to follow officers home and tape their home lives along with their work. After a while the idea of following officers home was deemed too artificial by Langley and was abandoned. Thereafter, the format of three self-contained unscripted segments without narration or music became the show's formula. Since the third episode of Season 2, every episode ends with a police radio excerpt referencing the intersection of SE 132nd St. and SE Bush St. in the
Powellhurst-Gilbert, Portland, Oregon Powellhurst-Gilbert is a neighborhood in the Southeast section of Portland, Oregon. It borders the neighborhoods of Montavilla, Portland, Oregon, Montavilla, Hazelwood, Portland, Oregon, Hazelwood, and Mill Park, Portland, Oregon, Mill Park on the ...
neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. A female officer says, "132 and Bush, I've got him at gunpoint", and a female dispatcher replies, "132 and Bush. Cover's Code 3." Another woman says, "Units 25, 14 can transmit on Tac 2", and the dispatcher replies, "Okay, we'll still send it Code 3." Then an instrumental version of "Bad Boys" plays over the credits. On the first season of ''Cops'', instead of "132 and Bush, I've got him at gunpoint", it was a police radio excerpt from the Broward County, Florida Sheriff's Office. In the first two episodes of the second season, a different police radio excerpt from the Portland Bureau of Police was used. ''Cops'' aired on Fox's traditional Saturday-night lineup since its debut in 1989. As of 2012, the program retained its traditional time slot, but aired more intermittently as Fox Sports scheduled more sports programming in Saturday-night primetime, with NASCAR on Fox in the late winter and spring, Major League Baseball on Fox throughout the spring and summer, Fox College Football in the fall, and various
Fox UFC ''Fox UFC Fight Night '' (previously referred as ''Fox UFC Saturday'' for broadcasts on Fox or ''FS1 UFC Fight Night'' for broadcasts on other Fox-owned properties) was the branding used for telecasts of mixed martial art competitions from the U ...
throughout the year. ''Cops'' was then scheduled on weeks without any sporting events, followed by an encore presentation of a Fox drama series. In 2013, it was announced that Fox had cancelled the program. However, it was later announced that Spike TV had picked up the program for another season. In August 2017, Spike moved the show's time slot to Monday.


Agencies featured


Camera crew involvement

In one episode, the production sound mixer for the camera crew, a former emergency medical technician, assisted a police officer in performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (season 2, episode 7). In an episode in season 11 that took place in 1998 in Atlanta, Georgia, camera operator Si Davis, who was a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department reserve police officer, dropped the camera and assisted an Atlanta police officer in wrestling a suspect into custody. It turned out that the APD officer had been severely injured during a foot pursuit; meanwhile, mixing console Steve Kiger picked up the camera and continued recording the action, which eventually made the air. In another episode, a rape suspect fled and outran officers, only to have the cameraman follow him the entire time, until police caught up to the suspect and subdued him (season 10, episode 19). In an episode of season 14 (2001–2002), during the arrest of a man after a car chase in
Hillsborough County, Florida Hillsborough County is located in the west central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. In the 2020 census, the population was 1,459,762, making it the fourth-most populous county in Florida and the most populous county outside the Miami metrop ...
, the sound mixer held the suspect's sister away from the deputy after she tried to intervene in her brother's arrest. During the first episode of season 22, which aired on September 12, 2009, an officer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was tackled by a suspect high on PCP. The camera operator and Las Vegas Fire Department firefighter/paramedics wrestled the suspect away from the officer. In episode 17 of season 26 that aired on February 1, 2014, during the arrest of a man in Sacramento, California, for battery on his girlfriend, one of the camera crew pulled one of the suspect's
American pit bull terrier The American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT) is a dog breed recognized by the United Kennel Club (UKC) and the American Dog Breeders Association (ADBA), but not the American Kennel Club (AKC). It is a medium-sized, short-haired dog, of a solid build, ...
away from one of the arresting officers. The dog was biting the officer on the leg after being commanded to do so by the suspect. During the recording of episode 7 in Season 27, the camera crew assisted in detaining the passenger of a vehicle whose operator had fled on foot from officers in
Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette (, ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the most populous city and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, located along the Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's fourth largest incorporated municipality by population and the 234th- ...
. As police chased the driver, who successfully evaded arrest, the camera crew secured the vehicle by giving directions to the passenger; at one point, the camera operator can be seen gesturing to the passenger to place the latter's hands on the dashboard.


2014 Wendy's shooting incident

On August 26, 2014, at roughly 9:20 p.m., a ''Cops'' crew was recording with the
Omaha Police Department The Omaha Police Department (OPD) is the principal law enforcement agency of the city of Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It is nationally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. The OPD is the largest law enfo ...
in Omaha, Nebraska, during their final week working at that place since arriving in June. A police officer drove to a Wendy's restaurant during a
robbery 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 ...
and called for backup. One of the other responding officers had a two-person ''Cops'' crew (a cameraman and audio technician Bryce Dion) present in his or her cruiser. The crew began recording the robbery inside Wendy's. Authorities later identified the robber as 32-year-old Cortez Washington, whom police shot several times during the shootout. A police officer fired through a window, hitting Dion (wearing a bullet-resistant vest) once under the arm. Medics transported both to the hospital, and both died, with Dion being pronounced dead shortly after arrival. The 38-year-old Dion had worked on ''Cops'' for seven years. Langley Productions stated that, in 25 years of video recording, this was the first incident in which a crew member was seriously injured or killed. A ''Cops'' crew working in Springfield, Missouri, also wrapped following the Omaha incident. In Dion's honor, the show aired an hour-long "best of" episode featuring his work on its September 20, 2014 episode. The robbery's events took only seconds to happen. Detective Darren Cunningham responded to the call while the ''Cops'' crew accompanied Officer Brooks Riley and Officer Jason Wilhelm. Cunningham and Riley entered the front door and unholstered their firearms, while Wilhelm went to the restaurant's back part to cover an emergency exit door that opens only from indoors. Cunningham and Riley approached Washington, who was at the restaurant's back part and did not see the officers arrive. For unknown reasons, Washington walked to the front counter, where the officers identified him and told him to lie on the floor—but Washington immediately pointed and fired a pistol while moving toward the officers, who returned fire. Cunningham retreated into the hallway toward the restroom and kept firing at Washington, who had then turned the corner and stood where the officers had initiated contact. Riley moved around a column and into the waiting aisle at the counter. As Washington passed the uniformed police officer, he aimed his weapon toward the officer and continued firing as he moved toward the front exit. Dion was caught in the ensuing crossfire as the officer returned fire at Washington, who stumbled into the parking lot and fell from his injuries before his arrest. After the scene was secured, authorities learned that Washington's pistol was actually an airsoft handgun that strongly resembled a real Taurus firearm. Authorities placed the three police officers on paid leave pending the result of an investigation into the shooting. A grand jury acquitted all three of misconduct. Washington had a lengthy criminal record in Wyandotte County, Kansas. At the time of the Wendy's robbery, he was on parole in Missouri, having been released in September 2013 after serving two years of a seven-year sentence as an accessory to second-degree robbery of a jewelry store, to which he pleaded guilty. In determining sentences and eligibility for parole, Missouri law does not consider criminal records in other states. Approximately 20 minutes before the Wendy's robbery, his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jeneva Arias, robbed a Little Caesars pizza restaurant, using the same airsoft pistol; Washington served as her getaway driver. Arias in turn was to be Washington's getaway driver in the Wendy's robbery, but fled. While in jail awaiting trial, she committed felony assault via throwing a soap mixture into a health care worker's face and fracturing a jailer's hand. Authorities gave Arias a plea bargain, and she pleaded no contest to reduced charges, and they sentenced her to a maximum of six years in jail through concurrent sentencing. Bryce Dion's brother, Trevor Dion, filed a lawsuit in February 2016 against the City of Omaha, alleging that inadequate communication and coordination between dispatchers and the officers arriving at the scene contributed to Dion's death. The suit also blames the authorities' decision to invite the ''Cops'' video crew to go with officers."Family of 'Cops' TV crew member killed by Omaha police sues,"
February 25, 2016, '' Chicago Tribune,'' retrieved May 27, 2017
On April 24, 2018, a Douglas County District Judge refused the City of Omaha's request to bar the release of the video of the robbery-shooting at Wendy's and ordered the City of Omaha to release all materials related to the death of Bryce Dion, of which only still frames had been previously released. On April 25, 2018, the video recorded by the ''Cops'' camera crew was released. The video was shown in open court and the '' Omaha World-Herald'' requested a copy, which it later released. Trevor Dion's lawsuit against the city was dismissed by a judge in July 2019.


Opening sequence

The show's theme song is " Bad Boys", performed by reggae group Inner Circle, which was played over a montage of clips. All episodes of ''Cops'' began with a disclaimer. Beginning with later episodes of season 2, the wording was: The disclaimer in the first two seasons was slightly different: "''Cops'' is filmed on location as it happens. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law."
Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...
provided the following narration on the pilot episode: "''Cops'' is about real people, and real crime. It was filmed entirely on location, with the men and women who work in law enforcement." During at least the first season, episodes featured original scoring in a vein similar to the instrumental backing of the opening song. Some cues were short, others longer, usually over montages. Among the composers who scored episodes were Michael Lewis and Nathan Wang. The Spike/Paramount Network version of the show added the Twitter handle and Facebook URL as its social media pages to the intro in 2013 until it was removed in 2020.


Episodes


Syndication


Domestic

In September 1993, reruns of ''Cops'' went into broadcast syndication, and like Fox's fellow series '' The Simpsons'', it became a mainstay of the format, with its carriage being led by Fox Television Stations itself, be it Fox stations or those stations which belong to its sister network MyNetworkTV; it was also consistently included on the schedule of The CW's smaller-market chain of local cable channels and broadcast subchannels, The CW Plus. In the fall of 2013, it mainly began to air on Spike (now Paramount Network) on the cable side as part of that network's agreement to air new episodes, after several years on truTV. Older episodes were picked up by the now defunct Cloo in September 2014, after spending years on the now defunct G4, which was discontinued in December 2014. Local station syndication of the show was prevalent on most Fox stations and affiliates at the time, but as of 2015, older episodes were shifted into ''Cops Reloaded''. WGN America also carried reruns of the regular version. At the start of 2016, the episodes in the now defunct Cloo/G4 package were moved into the Spike/Paramount Network syndicated package when the former G4/Cloo syndication agreement expired, giving that network the rights to the majority of the program. After Viacom's acquisition of Pluto TV in 2019, a 24/7 channel made up of episodes of the series directly programmed under license from Langley Productions was launched. Related to Paramount ending its carriage of ''Cops'' in June 2020, it has also relinquished its syndication rights; WGN America, which began to convert to a general news network as
NewsNation NewsNation is an American subscription television network owned by the Nexstar Media Group, and is the company's only wholly-owned, national cable-originated television channel. The channel runs a mixture of entertainment programming (consistin ...
under new ownership, also decided to stop carrying the show at the end of its existing carriage contract, which happened to terminate by coincidence on June 30, 2020. Disney Media Distribution, which syndicates the FTSP-era episodes under its former name of
20th Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Compa ...
to local television stations, replaced the series for the remainder of the summer with the 2018–19 run of the defunct syndication version of '' Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' on June 15 (of which an hour of episodes were distributed, as ''Cops'' was often paired with '' Live PD: Police Patrol'', which was also pulled from syndication at the same time new episodes of that series were cancelled). Reelz began to carry ''Reloaded'' episodes again on September 3, 2021.


International

''Cops'' is broadcast in the UK on
CBS Drama RealityXtra (formerly CBS Drama) is a British free-to-air television channel that centres its programming on American television shows produced by CBS. It is the sister channel of CBS Reality and is owned in partnership by AMC Networks and Para ...
, CBS Reality and
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
. In Portugal the show is aired on
Fox Crime Fox Crime (stylized as FOXCRIME) is a television network, launched by the Fox Networks Group, which airs across several countries of Europe, Africa and Asia such as Italy, Portugal, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Its basic programming include numero ...
, in Brazil on truTV, in Colombia on truTV, in Australia on
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 ...
,
10 Bold 10 Bold is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel owned by Network 10. It originally launched on 26 March 2009 as One HD with a focus on broadcasting sports-based programming and events, but rebranded to One in April 2011 to ...
(a sub-channel of Network Ten) and Crime + Investigation, in Japan on Fox Crime, in India on
Star World Star World (formerly known as Star Plus) is an English language entertainment television channel originally launched on 15 December 1991 as Star Entertainment () by STAR TV in Hong Kong as the old iteration of Star Plus. On 30 March 1996, the ...
and FOX Crime, in Norway on V4, in Sweden ''Reloaded'' airs on TV12 while original runs on TV6 and TV10, and in Denmark on Canal 9. In Canada, both the original and ''Reloaded'' versions of the program aired on Action (now
Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as
dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...
and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...
). BiteTV began airing the program in December 2014 (until its relaunch as Makeful in August 2015), while sibling channel RadX (which re-branded to BBC Earth in January 2017) began airing it on Monday, August 3, 2015.


''Cops 2.0''

An enhanced version of the program branded as ''Cops 2.0'' with live web chats and program facts aired on G4 from May 2007 to 2009.


''Cops Reloaded''

In January 2013,
20th Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Compa ...
announced that a new syndicated version titled ''Cops Reloaded'' would begin airing on CMT as well as local stations. The new format features slightly edited segments of classic ''Cops'' episodes, allowing for four segments per each half-hour episode. This version contains all new graphics and soundbites during the opening theme song, and older segments are modified and framed to a sharpened widescreen image for the high-definition format if they were originated in
standard-definition television Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...
.


Home media

The program has had several "best-of" home videos, including ''Cops: In Hot Pursuit'', ''Cops: Shots Fired'', ''Cops: Bad Girls'', and ''Cops: Caught in the Act'' which include uncensored "too hot for TV" segments containing profanity and nudity that was edited out of the network version. A ''Cops: 20th Anniversary Edition'' two-disc DVD with viewer favorites from each season, several behind the scenes features, and the original one-hour pilot was released in the United States and Canada on February 19, 2008.


Tie-ins

In 1994, Pacific Gameworks created a proposal for a video game project intended for the Atari Jaguar based upon the TV show; however, production of the game never started and it was left unreleased. In 1995, Nova Productions and
Atari Games Atari Games Corporation, known as Midway Games West Inc. after 1999, was an American producer of Arcade game, arcade Video game, games. It was formed in 1985 when the coin-operated Arcade game, arcade game division of Atari, Inc. was transfered ...
released a LaserDisc arcade game based on the show. The game uses live-action
full motion video Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games feature FMVs as a way to present information duri ...
for graphics and consists of a driving stage and a shooting stage very similar to ''
Mad Dog McCree ''Mad Dog McCree'' is the first live-action laserdisc video game released by American Laser Games. It originally appeared as an arcade game in 1990. The game gained considerable attention for its live-action video style, bearing similarities to ...
''. In 1999, ''Cops'' associate producer and sound mixer Hank Barr published ''The Jump-Out Boys'', a book about the show's production. In 2000, The sci-fi series The X-Files created an episode called “X-Cops”, which followed was shot in the style of a normal Cops episode, but dealt with the main characters of X-Files dealing with a shapeshifter.


Reception


Recognition

''Cops'' has received four Primetime Emmy nominations, as of May 2017. The website of the
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the television industry in the United States. It is a 501(c)(6) non-prof ...
specifically lists four nominations of ''Cops'' for Outstanding Informational Series (in 1989, 1990, 1993, and 1994) but ultimately no Emmy awards were awarded to the show."COPS: Awards & Nominations."
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the television industry in the United States. It is a 501(c)(6) non-prof ...
, retrieved May 27, 2017
"COPS (1989-): Awards."
in IMDb, retrieved May 27, 2017
Awards won have included: * 1993: the American Television Award for Best Reality-Based Program * 2008:
American Cinema Editors Founded in 1950, American Cinema Editors (ACE) is an honorary society of film editors that are voted in based on the qualities of professional achievements, their education of others, and their dedication to editing. Members use the post-nominal ...
, USA Eddie (award) for Best Edited Reality Series Other nominations (not resulting in an award) have included: * 2016: Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Unstructured Reality Show


Criticism

Even though it is popular and long-running, ''Cops'' has drawn mixed reviews, and it has also raised ethical questions.


Positive

In the show's third year, 1992, Alan Bunce of '' The Christian Science Monitor'' praised the show as network television's "only true '
cinema verite ''Cinema Verite'' is a 2011 HBO drama film directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. The film's main ensemble cast starred Diane Lane, Tim Robbins, James Gandolfini and Patrick Fugit. The film follows a fictionalized account of the ...
' series"—declaring it "innocent of re-enactments," and "free of fancy production effects," while remaining "doggedly faithful to its format." Bunce raved about its "honesty of tone" and the show's "commitment" to, in his words, "recording exactly what happens" (nothing more, nothing less)—"an implicit rebuke" to what he called "the excesses and sleight-of-hand" indulged in by most other "reality" shows. "''Cops''", he said, "is a stickler for authenticity."


Negative

In 1999, the '' Los Angeles Times''
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
-winning, long-time, television critic
Howard Rosenberg Howard Anthony Rosenberg (born June 10, 1942) is an American television critic. He worked at ''The Louisville Times'' from 1968 through 1978 and then worked at the ''Los Angeles Times'' for 25 years where he won a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
"Rosenberg to retire Aug. 8,"
July 28, 2003, '' Los Angeles Times,'' retrieved May 27, 2017
chastised ride-along reality TV shows (like ''Cops,'' which he particularly named), as "uniting" police and media in ride-alongs where each party is "an extension of the other." Rosenberg, Howard
"High Court Gives Series a Dose of Reality,"
May 26, 1999, '' Los Angeles Times,'' retrieved May 28, 2017
When invading "private property with their cameras rolling," said Rosenberg, these partnerships' behavior is "appallingly indifferent" to the "fundamental privacy rights" of the people whose homes they invade, and the resulting TV shows depict "social and moral crises" deceptively, "without context"—doing so in "the most narrow, emotional terms" they can. In a 2009 interview, ''Cops'' executive producer John Langley admitted that his show is built around a three-segment structure, presenting an "action" piece, an "emotional" piece, and a "thought" piece"John Langley Interview,"
in North Hollywood, California, May 22, 2009, ''Archive of American Television'' retrieved May 27, 2017.
(an example of the
rule of three Rule of three or Rule of Thirds may refer to: Science and technology *Rule of three (aeronautics), a rule of descent in aviation *Rule of three (C++ programming), a rule of thumb about class method definitions * Rule of three (computer programming ...
). Rosenberg further describes such a commercial police–media partnership as exceptionally prone to media corruption—yielding misleading, one-sided perspectives. "The collusion potential is enormous," says Rosenberg, because a so-called "reality" series can choose to air nothing that they fear will put their partners (the police) in a bad light (an embarrassment which, says Rosenberg, would cut off the TV show's access to the ride-alongs, resulting in "no access, no show".) A podcast called ''Headlong: Running from Cops'' started in April 2019. Presented by
Dan Taberski Dan Taberski is a writer, director, and producer based in New York City. He is best known for hosting investigative journalism podcasts '' Missing Richard Simmons'', '' Surviving Y2K,'' '' Running From Cops'', '' 9/12'' and ''The Line''. Taber ...
, it investigates ''Cops'' and '' Live PD'', their alleged treatment of participants and whether scenarios are portrayed truthfully. Critics have noted the use of propaganda for cops, or copaganda, in the show COPS.


Targeted subjects

;2004 Old Dominion study In June 2004, researchers at Old Dominion University videotaped 16 episodes of ''Cops'' and then evaluated them for crime content, and for the racial and gender identity of characters depicted. They found prior studies statistically reinforced in their descriptions of racial misrepresentation on ''Cops''. The study found that, on ''Cops'', African-American men were overwhelmingly shown as perpetrators—usually of violent crimes—and Hispanic men (rarely depicted at all) were also usually depicted as violent criminals. The police officers depicted were overwhelmingly white, and the disproportionately few white offenders were more-often portrayed as involved in non-violent offenses.Monk-Turner, Elizabeth, with Homer Martinez, Jason Holbrook, & Nathan Harvey, Dept. of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Old Dominion University, i
"Are Reality TV Crime Shows Continuing To Perpetuate Crime Myths?"
2007, '' Internet Journal of Criminology'', retrieved May 31, 2017
As a response, the show's co-creator John Langley tried to include white offenders in each episode. Statistical correlations between ''actual'' crime rates and types (by race and gender, as reported by the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports) and the Old Dominion study's analysis of characters in the ''Cops'' episodes indicated that the ''Cops'' episodes (on average) sharply skewed the numbers, racially, making African-American and Hispanic men appear far more responsible for violent crime than they actually are in the U.S. population at large. At the same time, white males were shown on ''Cops'' as a far less culpable group than they ''actually'' are, statistically. The study also noted that women were almost totally ignored in ''Cops''—seldom appearing as either officers or offenders. Finally, it noted that the show overwhelmingly depicted ''violent'' crimes, despite such crimes being a distinct minority of crime in the U.S. ;2004 Prosise-Johnson study In 2004, researchers Theodore O. Prosise ( Univ. of Wash.), and Ann Johnson, Ph.D. ( Univ. of Calif./Long Beach), studied a random, but non-scientific, sample of 81 anecdotes from ''Cops'' episodes—analyzing their content, subjects and characters. They concluded that the program was racially skewed, negatively misrepresenting African-Americans, depicted as a criminal class out of proportion to their actual percentage of U.S. crime, in particular.Prosise, Theodore O., Ph.D. ( Univ. of Wash. and Ann Johnson, Ph.D. ( Univ. of Calif./Long Beach), article
"Law Enforcement and Crime on ''Cops'' and ''World's Wildest Police Videos'': Anecdotal Form and the Justification of Racial Profiling,"
68 (1) '' Western Journal of Communications,'' (Winter 2004), pp.72-91 (PDF), retrieved May 31, 2017
Moreover, the study indicated that the ''Cops'' episodes appeared to selectively edit out failed police efforts, and police-initiated actions "on a hunch" that resulted in the discovery of no grounds for an intervention or arrest—showing only those officer "hunches and suspicions" that were productive—creating the illusion that officer instincts were more reliable and valid than in actual life. The study's authors expressed concern that this provided TV viewers with implicit—and misleading—justification for police actions that amounted to "racism, discrimination or profiling." ;Targeting the poor The show has been criticized for its predominant focus on criminal activities among the poor. Critics of this aspect of the show say it unfairly presents the poor as responsible for most crime in society while ignoring the " white-collar crimes" that are typical of the more wealthy. Controversial documentary filmmaker
Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism. Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...
raises this tenet in an interview with a former associate producer of ''Cops'',
Richard Herlan Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...
, in Moore's 2002 movie '' Bowling for Columbine''. Herlan's response to Moore was that television is primarily a visual medium, requiring regular footage on a weekly basis to sustain a show, and police officers "busting in" on an office where identity theft papers are being created or other high-level crime rings are operating does not happen very often. It is therefore not likely to be recorded and thus not shown. The low-level crime featured on the show happens every day, providing large quantities of material suitable for taping.


Influence on viewers

A 2001 study of 117 Justice Studies"Justice Studies" is defined by Arizona State University as coursework preparatory for careers or further studies in "law or policy. graduate studies in social sciences or humanities. human welfare and social work. law enforcement and criminal justice." See
"Justice Studies"
in School of Social Transformation at
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...
, retrieved May 31, 2017
students at
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...
—a cross-section sample proportionally representative of the genders and races of all justice studies students at ASU—found various correlations between students' race and gender and their attitudes towards representative episodes of ''Cops''. The study found that students were drawn to the violence in the program. It also found that students interpreted ''Cops'' scenes as valid and informative representations of the genders and races different from their own—eliminating the need to learn about them through direct personal contact.Curry, Kathleen (Dept. of Sociology & Criminal Justice, University of Delaware)
"Mediating ''COPS'': An analysis of viewer reaction to reality TV,"
in ''Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture,'' 8(3) (2001) pp.169–185, (PDF), retrieved May 31, 2017


Rejections by police departments

In 2005 in response to a request for ''Cops'' taping, Patrick Camden, the
Chicago Police Department The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency of the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United States, behind t ...
's deputy director of news affairs stated, "police work is not entertainment. What they do trivializes policing. We've never seriously even considered taping." The
Fairfax County Police Department The Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) is a full-service law enforcement agency, located in Northern Virginia. The FCPD services a population of 1,081,726 residents within of Fairfax County, Virginia. The stated mission of the department ...
, located in Northern Virginia, has similarly refused to allow ''Cops'' taping since the show originally aired, as have the Washington, D.C. Police, St. Louis City Police, and the Honolulu Police Department. In addition, the show has rarely featured federal law enforcement agencies because such officers often work undercover and as a result, they are not inclined to have their work broadcast.


Influence on the media


Similar shows

Animal Planet aired its own version called ''
Animal Cops ''Animal Cops'' is an American reality television franchise that was originally produced in the United States for Animal Planet. Animal Planet has also presented a special edition of ''Animal Cops'' with 2009 episodes such as "Back from the Brink" ...
'', featuring animal control services and
animal welfare Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity ...
organizations. Several other American shows have paid homage to ''Cops'' format, such as '' LAPD: Life on the Beat'', ''
Police POV ''Police POV'' is an American documentary television series that originally aired on TruTV and shows police officers in action from a unique perspective: as if the viewer is watching the action through the eyes of the police officer (or from their ...
'', '' Live PD'' and '' On Patrol: Live''. A similar Canadian series called ''Under Arrest'' aired in the 1990s and 2000s.


Parodies

Three
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
series parodied their own network's program. '' Mad TV'' featured a series of filmed parodies called "Clops", shot in claymation, and consisted of animated cops and criminals, commonly in exaggerated situations analogous to the real series. '' In Living Color'' did a parody called "Thugs", from the point of view of a group of criminals. In 1992, the episode "
Homer's Triple Bypass "Homer's Triple Bypass" is the eleventh episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 17, 1992. In this episode, Homer suffers a h ...
" from '' The Simpsons'' featured a parody of the show entitled "COPS: In Springfield". Seattle's sketch comedy show '' Almost Live!'' did a parody called "Librarians", and "Cops in...". In 1994, children's show ''
Bill Nye the Science Guy ''Bill Nye the Science Guy'' is an American science education television program created by Bill Nye, James McKenna, and Erren Gottlieb, with Nye starring as a fictionalized version of himself. It was produced by television station KCTS and McK ...
'' did a parody called "''Cops'' in Your Bloodstream", with said 'police officers' representing
white blood cell White blood cells, also called leukocytes or leucocytes, are the cell (biology), cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders. All white blood cells are produced and de ...
s attempting to stop 'criminal' infections. '' Troops'' is a mockumentary by Kevin Rubio that had its debut at San Diego Comic-Con International on July 18, 1997, and was subsequently distributed via the internet. The movie is a parody of ''Cops'', set in the ''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' universe. In the movie, Imperial stormtroopers from the infamous Black Sheep Squadron patrolling the Dune Sea on the planet Tatooine run into some very familiar characters while being recorded for the hit Imperial TV show ''Troops''. '' Shrek 2'' had a clip of a parody show called ''Knights'' which showed Shrek, Donkey, and Puss in Boots being arrested (the latter for possession of catnip). On January 28, 2019, '' The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'' did a parody called ''
Mueller Mueller may refer to: People * Mueller (surname), a surname German in origin Places Antarctica * Mount Mueller (Antarctica) Australia * Mueller College, in Queensland * Mount Mueller (Victoria) *Mueller Park, in Western Australia * Mueller Rive ...
'' which featured CNN's footage of Roger Stone's arrest the previous week, with footage of other Donald Trump associates' arrests mixed into actual ''Cops'' opening titles, and a fictional FBI agent providing recaps of the action.
Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 2009 ...
parodied the program on '' The Tonight Show'' in the mid-90s, which included rewrites of the theme song with various insults, including "dumb cops", "short cops" and "mall cops", with appropriate characters and changed lyrics. Two episodes of the sitcom '' My Name Is Earl'' had the main characters being arrested during (fictitious) tapings of ''Cops''. The ''Dead or Alive'' video game series had a parody show called ''Agents'' which showed the man being arrested by
government agents Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...
for torturing and abusing his ex-girlfriends, grifting,
fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
,
movie piracy Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...
, TV episode piracy,
impersonating An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for impersonating someone: *Entertainment: An entertainer impersonates a celebrity, generally for entertainment, and makes fun of ...
now-deceased Fame Douglas, mocked and impersonated on
Helena Douglas Helena Douglas (エレナ・ダグラス ''Erena Dagurasu?'') is a player character in the '' Dead or Alive'' series of fighting games by Team Ninja and Tecmo (Koei Tecmo). She was introduced in 1999's '' Dead or Alive 2'' as a French opera sing ...
on the internet and forging his own video game and sent to
federal prison A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for convicts who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), inmates considered dangerous (Brazil), or those s ...
. The upcoming untitled
Oddworld ''Oddworld'' is a video game series and fictional universe, created by developers Oddworld Inhabitants under the direction of Lorne Lanning. The series has been released on various platforms such as PlayStation, Xbox, PlayStation 3, Game Boy, Wi ...
film had a parody show called ''Police'' which Sligs, Vykkers, Interns, Outlaws, Wolvarks and Gloktigi attempts to track down and arrest
Abe Abe or ABE may refer to: People and fictional characters * Shinzo Abe (1954–2022), former Prime Minister of Japan * Abe (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Abe (surname), a list of people a ...
and Munch.


''The X-Files'' pseudo-crossover episode

The show '' The X-Files'' released a pseudo crossover episode of ''Cops'' called "
X-Cops "X-Cops" is the twelfth episode of the seventh season of the American science fiction television series '' The X-Files''. Directed by Michael Watkins and written by Vince Gilligan, the installment serves as a "Monster-of-the-Week" story—a st ...
" (
season 7 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...
, episode 12) in which FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully collaborate with mostly fictional deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (an actual LASD SWAT team was also featured in the episode) in order to catch a mysterious,
shapeshifting In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, Magic (paranormal), sorcery, Incantation, ...
entity. In the tradition of the real-life ''Cops'' program, the entire episode is shot on video.


Legal issues


Home intrusion

A 1999 United States Supreme Court decision, ''Wilson v. Layne,'' No. 98-83, (and the Court's simultaneous stance on an Appeals Court ruling in a similar case ''Hanlon v. Berger,'' No. 97-1927, and its affiliate case, ''CNN v. Berger,'' No. 97-1914) appeared to legal scholars to restrict the actions of ''Cops'' video crews, and some suggested it might even spell the end for the program.Greenhouse, Linda,
THE SUPREME COURT: THE FOURTH AMENDMENT; Police Violate Privacy in Home Raids With Journalists
" May 25, 1999, '' The New York Times'', retrieved May 27, 2017
Kowalczyk, Ronald B.
"Supreme Court Slams the Door on the Press: Media Ride-along Found Unconstitutional in Wilson v. Layne,"
Spring, 1999, ''DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law,'' Vol.9, Iss.2, retrieved May 27, 2017
Trager, Robert, Joseph Russomanno and Susan Dente Ross, book:
The Law of Journalism and Mass Communication
' 2013, Language Arts & Disciplines, as reproduced on GoogleBookx, retrieved May 27, 2017
Rutledge, Devallis, special counsel to the
Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...
district attorne
"Publicity Can Be Costly,"
October 10, 2012, ''POLICE'' Magazine, retrieved May 27, 2017
In the ''Wilson'' case, a reporter and photographer from '' The Washington Post'' accompanied a federal marshal (Layne) and local officials when the authorities entered a home (of the Wilson family) acting on a search warrant. The Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement officers may not bring a media ride-along guest with them when entering a private home to execute a search warrant, stating that it was a violation of the Fourth Amendment rights of the people in the home to be "free from unreasonable searches and seizures," and to be "secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects." The court affirmed (or reaffirmed, in some views) the policy that officers may not bring into the home with them people whose role was not in the direct service of the purpose of the warrant. Though that court — by its own admission (stated in the majority opinion document) — was usually divided on Fourth Amendment issues, the court ruled unanimously in this case that the authorities' accommodation of the media intrusion violated the Fourth Amendment.
Wilson v. Layne
'' (98-83) 526 U.S. 603 (1999) 141 F.3d 111, affirmed. Syllabus, Opinion Rehnquist Other
Opinion of Stevens An opinion is a judgment, viewpoint, or statement that is not conclusive, rather than facts, which are true statements. Definition A given opinion may deal with subjective matters in which there is no conclusive finding, or it may deal with ...
as transcribed by the College of Law, Cornell University, retrieved May 27, 2017
The court further ruled that officers violating that ruling, and allowing unnecessary parties to invade with them, were liable to those in the home they had entered, and could be sued for damages. The lone dissent on that element of the case was on the question of ''current'' liability (Justice Stevens believed that the officers in ''that'' specific case were liable—but the rest of the court agreed to give them qualified immunity, because the justices believed that the Supreme Court had not yet made its position sufficiently clear on that issue; however, any subsequent violators would be held liable by the court). The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the organization most associated with defending the Bill of Rights, and whose local affiliate represented the ''Wilson'' plaintiffs, took an even more sweeping view in favor of the plaintiffs, preferring the Fourth Amendment privacy protections against any potential First Amendment "freedom of the press" issue in that case."ACLU Amicus Brief in Wilson, et. al. v. Layne, et. al.,"
American Civil Liberties Union, retrieved May 27, 2017
In the ''Hanlon'' case, the Supreme Court further extended the protections of their ''Wilson'' ruling to include not only the ''house'' of the plaintiffs, but also the '' curtilage''—the enclosed and concealed-from-public-view, private space around the house (commonly including yard, carport and/or garage). However, ''Cops'' executive producer John Langley said the show would continue to be produced, in the following season, in the format of "a pure ride-along show"claiming that the show had always gotten releases from anybody shown on camera, even those people depicted under arrest. (However, Langley's statement did not indicate whether the releases were gained before or after recording, and did not indicate whether some subjects had been videoed without giving their consent, and then simply not been shown"involved"in the resulting program.) Further, Langley noted, most of what the show depicts occurs in "the street or in cars"."Producers Say Ruling Won't Affect Shows: Television: 'Cops' and others claim privacy issues are already addressed,"
May 26, 1999, '' Los Angeles Times,'' retrieved May 26, 2017


Impact on the Dalia Dippolito case

''Cops'' dedicated an entire episode ("Smooth Criminal", season 24, episode 3, originally aired September 24, 2011) to the case of call girl/escort Delilah "Dalia" Dippolito of
Boynton Beach, Florida Boynton Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is situated about 57 miles north of Miami. The population was 68,217 at the 2010 census. In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 78,679 according to the University o ...
, who was accused of solicitation to commit first-degree murder after being secretly videotaped hiring a hitman (who was actually an undercover cop) to kill her husband in 2009. At trial, her defense attorney claimed that Dippolito was tricked into signing the ''Cops'' release form. The defense attorney also claimed that her husband orchestrated the plot to get aired on ''Cops''. In truth, ''Cops'' producers were outraged when investigators persuaded Dippolito to sign the release form before they questioned her, believing that since it was done under
color of law Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...
, it would be useless. They later convinced Dippolito to sign a second waiver, saying they would give her a chance to tell her side of the story. Ultimately, both defenses failed, and Dippolito was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. However, the state's Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a new trial in 2014, finding that the judge at the first trial erred by not doing enough to ensure that jurors weren't improperly exposed to pre-trial publicity. The appeals court found that the judge should have questioned the jurors individually, rather than as a group, regarding how much they knew about the case. It also found that the judge should have dismissed the entire jury when one prospective juror revealed she had read about Dippolito's attempt at poisoning her husband. She was later released on an appeal to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, pending a retrial on May 23, 2016. On August 17, 2016, the appeals court rejected her appeal without comment. Her retrial began with jury selection on December 1, 2016. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict and a mistrial was declared on December 14, 2016. A second retrial was scheduled to start in June 2017. On June 16, 2017, she was convicted. She faced up to 20 years in prison when sentenced on July 21, 2017. Judge Glenn Kelley ordered her held without bail. Her defense attorneys said they would appeal the verdict. On July 21, 2017, Dippolito was sentenced to 16 years in prison. The Dippolito case has also been featured on
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
's ''
20/20 Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...
'', NBC's '' Dateline'', CNBC's ''
American Greed ''American Greed'' (also known as ''American Greed: Scams, Scoundrels and Scandals'' and as ''American Greed: Scams, Schemes and Broken Dreams'') is an American documentary television series on CNBC. The series focuses on cases of Ponzi schemes, ...
'', and the syndicated show distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, '' Crime Watch Daily''.


Use of ''Cops'' videos by defense attorneys

''Cops'' videos have been subpoenaed and used by defense attorneys, resulting in the suppression of evidence owing to police misconduct which was revealed in the ''Cops'' videos.
U.S. v. SOLOMON
' ''(UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. HUBERT LEE SOLOMON),'' February 12, 2016, United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Fort Myers Division, as transcribed at Leagle.com, retrieved May 31, 2017
Isler, Tom
"Defendant uses 'Cops' video footage to suppress handgun evidence,"
February 23, 2016, ''Docs & the Law'' Blog, School of Law, Penn. State Univ., retrieved May 31, 2017
In 2015, "late at night in a high-crime area," a
Fort Myers, Florida Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...
, police officer—accompanied by a ''Cops'' video crew—stopped and frisked a man who was wearing dark clothing and walking in the middle of the street. In an encounter that only lasted 23 seconds, the officer discovered that the suspect (who turned out to be a convicted felon) had a gun, and the suspect was arrested. In subsequent criminal proceedings, in federal district court, the defendant moved to suppress the frisk-acquired gun evidence on the ground that the officer violated the defendant's Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures—arguing that the officer did not have "reasonable suspicion" to frisk him. More specifically, the defendant argued that the officer did not believe, reasonably, that his safety was threatened—nor the safety of others—before conducting the pat-down. The officer countered that the defendant had exhibited suspicious behavior that justified the frisk. Relying heavily on the "indisputable video evidence" that contradicted the officer's testimony on multiple points, the judge agreed with the defense, and barred the evidence of the handgun. Further, the judge suggested that the officer may have altered his original report after viewing the ''Cops'' video. At least one academic reviewer of the case described it as raising questions about how often such police actions are illegal, but unprovable—describing it as a strong justification for requiring police officers to wear
body camera A body camera, bodycam, body worn video (BWV), body-worn camera, or wearable camera is a wearable audio, video, or photographic recording system. Body cameras have a range of uses and designs, of which the best-known use is as a part of poli ...
s.


Film adaptation

According to a 2016 report in '' Deadline Hollywood'', Ruben Fleischer was attached to a feature adaptation of ''Cops'' as an edgy narrative feature with a buddy comedy bent on the order of '' Lethal Weapon'' with Fleischer co-producing the film with David Bernad through The District along with ''Cops'' rights holder Langley Films' John Langley. Cameron Fay was to write the script, with Boies/Schiller Film Group providing financing.


See also

* Law enforcement in the United States * ''
America's Most Wanted ''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of i ...
'' * '' Live PD''


References


External links

* * * {{authority control 1989 American television series debuts 1980s American crime television series 1990s American crime television series 2000s American crime television series 2010s American crime television series 2020s American crime television series 1980s American reality television series 1990s American reality television series 2000s American reality television series 2010s American reality television series 2020s American reality television series English-language television shows Fox Broadcasting Company original programming Paramount Network original programming Spike (TV network) original programming Documentary television series about policing Law enforcement in the United States Television series by 20th Century Fox Television American television series revived after cancellation