I love the TV show “Cops.” It is an adrenaline rush of a show, and one that highlights some of the best police officers and some of the dumbest criminals on the planet.
“Cops,” which has been on the air since 1989 – yes, it has been that long – now has a competitor show that is probably even better. That show, “Live PD,” premiered in 2016 and has pretty much taken over the A&E network – much to my joy.
I can’t get enough of this show.
“Live PD” follows a number of officers in a variety of states on each show. There could be cameras following officers in Texas, Arizona, Florida and Maryland on a single episode. In the studio, a couple of officers and a host throw to what appears to be the most exciting incident at the moment. So, you might see a vehicle stop in Louisiana, but then they will cut to a burglary in process in South Carolina.
This keeps the action flowing and insures that there is indeed action, as this is a live show.
Even better is the edited version that is chopped up into 30 minute shows. These boast nothing but the best action, and they can be everything from scary to funny to incredibly intense.
I like that this show really does spotlight the officers and humanizes them. We see many of the same officers time and time again, and that makes it all very familiar.
But like “Cops,” this show again makes me glad I am not a police officer. It is a very tough and unforgiving job. Sure, there are some moments of levity and some obvious camaraderie, but that would not be enough for me.
The main reason I could never be a cop is that I don’t have the patience. Some of these men and women should get special awards for simply being calm in the face of unhinged, moronic people who have broken the law.
Some of the people – especially young people – badger, belittle, mock and generally do everything to not cooperate with the officers. And most of the time the officers remain calm, cool and collected.
I would probably fly off the handle and end up in someone’s viral video – and not in a good way.
I have never been arrested in my life. I haven’t even gotten a ticket in almost 20 years, and I’ve only gotten two in my life. (Knock on wood!).
But even with my limited exposure to being on the wrong end of an encounter with law enforcement, I think I would know to keep my mouth shut and do what they say.
No so for a lot of people running the streets, apparently. Of course, many of them are on the very low end of the IQ scale, doing enough drugs to kill 10 people and obviously not big on personal hygiene.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist, however to know a few simple rules:
* Don’t run from the police, either in your car or on foot. It won’t end well for you, period. You will get winded, sweaty and still be arrested, and possibly taken down by a police dog or tased.
* Be polite and cooperative and officers will likely be the same way. The officers on “Live PD” always give people many chances to tell the truth and cooperate. When they do, they are often released with a simple ticket or summons instead of being carted off to jail. Lesson: Don’t be a moron.
* Don’t lie. It makes the police angry, eventually makes you look bad and probably upsets your mom. When you lie, the police will prove you wrong – pretty much every time.
Easy, right? Well, not that easy. If it was that easy everyone would follow the rules and I wouldn’t get to enjoy shows like “Live PD.”
