-♪ Bad boys, bad boys ♪
♪ Whatcha gonna do? ♪
♪ Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? ♪
-In the early '90s,
Americans are introduced to an arresting new kind of TV.
-I was thinking, "Man, I don't want to work on this show
because you could get shot doing this thing."
- Get on the ground. - Get on the ground.
-It showed the police as they really are...
-Can somebody take her?
-...to a public that didn't know.
-It was amidst this War on Drugs.
People wanted to see these cops as these superhero individuals.
-Put your hands up where I can see them.
Stay in the car.
-I think '90s was the best decade for police work.
-Powder cocaine.
-The public genuinely loved police officers.
- What am I arrested for? - Get on your stomach.
-It was white police officers
taking advantage of the working class poor.
-The TV show "Cops" was part of this selling
of an unjust justice system to the American public.
♪♪
[ Dial-up modems screeching ]
♪♪
-From its very first episode, "Cops" burst onto TV screens
with its brash, in-your-face realism.
-Take her. Come here. Take her.
-And in the '90s, audiences couldn't get enough.
-It was a mind-blower.
In my town, it was what everybody was talking about.
-Back room is clear.
Alright, go. Check your rounds real quick.
Double-check them.
-What caught people's attention was you can go to
your 9-to-5 job,
come home at night, and have dinner,
sit down in front of the TV,
and basically be put in the passenger seat of a...
Of a police car.
-With its raw, fly-on-the-wall style,
"Cops" was an edge-of-your-seat adrenaline rush.
-You are under arrest.
You figured that out all by yourself, didn't you?
-They were in that car. They were in that foot chase.
They were in that fight.
And they were there handcuffing that guy with you.
[ Indistinct talking ]
-The show was unlike anything television audiences
had ever seen.
-I was seeing on primetime TV the same things I was shooting
with my camera in a news setting.
-Sheriff's department. Search warrant.
-I mean, this is how it truly is.
- Sheriff's department. - Police. Get down. Get down.
-Just really, really good television.
[ Indistinct talking ]
-Real life, raw, uncut.
This is brand new to television.
-But what ends up happening with a show like "Cops" is
they can pick and choose what they portray
to give us this vision of policing
that is not only inaccurate, but is deeply dangerous.
-Your boyfriend is letting you take the fall for the drug?
-The success of this new kind of television
relied on a very old obsession.
-America has always had a fascination with crime
and cop shows.
My name's Adrien Sebro.
I'm a professor of Media Studies
at University of Texas at Austin.
And I teach History of Media and Television and Film.
Shows like, you know, "Dragnet," "Kojak,"
"Columbo," "Law & Order."
There's always been this love for, you know, crime,
because we always wonder, like, whodunit.
♪♪
-Throughout the '80s, shows with actors playing cops
were some of the most popular on television.
-But there was a gap between, you know,
these very scripted kind of TV show
and showing what cops really do.
-That vice that Tubbs and Crockett were fighting in Miami,
it looked nothing like the new reality police were facing.
-Miami Vice.
-New York.
-It was amidst this late '80s,
early '90s era of this War on Drugs.
-Narcotics violations, robberies, and sexual assaults
were up 10.5%.
-Crack cocaine use leads President Reagan
to double down on the so-called "War on Drugs."
-Drugs are menacing our society.
They're threatening our values
and undercutting our institutions.
They're killing our children.
-So, why don't you join us in this great new national crusade?
-And as drug-fueled, violent crime rises,
TV shows glamorizing police work start to lose their luster.
-So, really, "Cops" came at the perfect time.
It was this idea from an individual named John Langley.
He had a documentary called "Cocaine Blues."
-Malcolm Barbour and John Langley got together,
and made this film documentary.
♪♪
And it was real raw.
-In the past, you might see somebody
with... at a party, with a drink in their hand.
And now, in feature films,
you see people with coke spoons in their nose.
-The two young producers of "Cocaine Blues"
soon land a job bringing its realism to television.
-Why cocaine?
-When I first really got involved with them,
they were doing live broadcasting.
I'm Hank Barr.
And I spent the decade of the '90s working on "Cops."
-Before working on "Cops"...
-"American Vice: The Real Story of the Doping of Our Nation."
- Barr teams up with Langley on a gritty,
unscripted television special starring Geraldo Rivera.
-Sometime during the course of this live program,
you'll be a witness as a pusher goes down for the count.
After watching dozens of these raids from very close up...
-And it was a two hour live show
with inserts of taped drug raids.
-The idea is to hit swiftly, and with overwhelming force.
Surprise and shock are the best protection,
not only for the officer...
-I was thinking that, "Man,
I don't want to work on this show
because you could get shot doing this thing."
Because we didn't have any bulletproof vest.
And I could feel this person pushing me
into this place that we had fogged.
Couldn't see anything.
And we all could have been shot there.
But I looked over my shoulder,
and it's Geraldo pushing me in the door.
So, the excitement was definitely there.
Oh, my gosh.
[ Indistinct talking ]
-All right. The deal went down.
It's all on the hidden camera...
-While working on the special, John Langley's crew
stumbles on something that will change television.
-Halfway through, Geraldo had to leave,
and so, I threw a mic onto the key man
that would actually key the door of where we were gonna raid.
And I would say, you know,
"We just need to have you talk us through."
-Somebody's got to put the cuffs on this guy.
-So, for the next few hours, we filmed all these drug raids
with just the officers narrating.
-Fully loaded Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum.
Oh, excuse me. .44 special.
Would have ruined our day.
-There's no narrators. There's no host.
-These are Teflon-coated bullets.
-You're simply a crew following along with a police department.
And that's how "Cops" was born.
-John had the concept of "Cops."
He tried to sell it to the networks.
I'm Randy Sutton, and I was a cop
for a lot of years, including in the '90s.
They said it couldn't be done.
"Never work."
And they laughed him out of their office.
-Langley shops it around to what are then the only networks...
ABC, CBS, and NBC.
But they all turn him down.
Network TV isn't ready to buy the realism he's trying to sell.
-It doesn't surprise me that a television executive
in that period of time
would just have to scratch your head, and go, "I don't get it."
I'm Mark Whaley.
And for many years in the '90s,
I was a cameraman on the TV show "Cops."
When you present to them a radical idea,
like, "We're gonna put a cameraman and a sound man
in a car with a policeman,
and they're just gonna chase him around,
and whatever he does, we're going to make that TV a show.
You want that?"
♪♪
No narration, no track, no script.
This preposterous idea, I'm sure, at that time.
-And he was... He was struggling.
I think, at one point, he was living out of his car.
But Langley's luck is about to change.
-In 1988, there was a Writers Guild strike.
And the Writers Guild strike was huge
because it halted many productions,
especially on sitcoms, dramas,
or other, obviously, written shows.
-Striking screenwriters have said no
to another contract offered by producers.
-Suddenly, a show that doesn't use script writers
looks attractive to TV executives.
-On the show "Cops," we didn't have to have directors.
We didn't have to have writers.
It was unscripted.
-And now, there's a new network in town.
For the fledgling Fox,
a risky concept with a low budget is irresistible.
-♪ Yes, it'll have to change ♪
♪ That can be arranged ♪
-♪ It's on Fox ♪
-Fox was hungry for content.
-They were the young network, so they wanted to embrace
that newness with gritty, urban, young TV and production
that you can't see anywhere else.
When "Cops" finally makes it to air on March 11th, 1989,
it delivers can't-look-away realism
rarely seen on the small screen.
And she was like, "Oh, man, this is awes...
This is gonna be good. Watch this.
This is gonna be great."
-You crawl on your hands and knees right now.
-The format of "Cops" is simple...
Each episode tracks three stories,
with police kicking ass off the top,
with what producers see as comic relief in the middle.
-How much have you had to drink? Tell me that.
-Not nearly enough.
-Come on, Mary. Get up.
-Come on, Mary.
-And a finale that shows police serving and protecting.
-How do you... How do you intend to get some food for them?
-Well, other than they already had supper tonight,
he'll be here first thing in the morning.
-Who wants to carry something?
-What it does is perpetuate
this idea that they're our superheroes.
So, this is a way in which "Cops"
continues to construct their idea of criminal
and their idea of those who are on the right side of the law.
-Because we want to make sure that the kids...
- I want to be a police. - You want to be a policeman?
- Yes. - Good.
♪♪
-What "Cops" ended up doing is creating their own audience.
We were on Saturday nights,
which is actually the worst night of television,
and yet, our ratings were going through the ceiling.
Our Q rating was above that of "The Tonight Show."
It was a cult show.
-I think it was great because the video cameras
really weren't out in patrol cars
or on officers' bodies back then, like body cameras.
So, to have those cameras running live
the whole entire time,
I mean, they were getting exactly what was happening.
We just did what we normally would do on a nightly basis.
-We don't know where his clothes are.
The guy that owns his property, this barber shop,
lives upstairs.
He says he doesn't know him.
-Viewers were getting the live version of police work.
-I don't think your dad wants to see you come to Heaven this way.
-Charles, I love you!
-I think what John Langley wanted to accomplish
with the show "Cops"
was to show the true nature of what policing is.
-But it turns out, John Langley didn't control which aspects
of policing the audience got to see.
The cops did.
-These law enforcement agencies had editorial control.
-The whole ecosystem of policing is getting this sort of washed
sort of look, this fairytale version.
[ Indistinct talking ]
-But as the '90s roll on,
it's painfully clear that, for many,
it's a fairytale without a happily ever after.
♪♪
-In the early '90s, "Cops" goes international...
...with the show's theme song becoming a worldwide hit.
-♪ Bad boys ♪
-It's hard for me to imagine a better piece of music
to use to help brand the show, and what it's about.
-But this song in and of itself is a cultural phenomenon.
We see the film "Bad Boys,"
this three-part trilogy is themed off the song.
They characters sing the song.
-♪ Bad boys, bad boys ♪
-♪ Whatcha gonna do? ♪
-The chart-topping, Grammy-winning tune
is burned into the popular consciousness.
-Even today, we think about that show
when you're thinking about that song.
-♪ Nobody not give me no break ♪
♪ Police not give me no break ♪
-But the song also hints at the manipulation tactics
of the show it introduces.
-Reggae music, in all its anti-Establishment ethics
at its core, is now promoting a show
about one of the longest industries
that was against people of color,
against working-class people,
and is about keeping people in line.
-The song also helps "Cops" become a pop culture phenomenon.
-We got a message that there's a witch out here,
so we're gonna check it out.
- You got a kid? - Yes, sir.
-So, what's gonna happen to the kid?
You get burned at the stake, right?
Right? Who takes care of the kid, huh?
-I swear, sir, I am not... I am not a witch.
- "Cops" in Springfield.
-♪ Bad cops, bad cops ♪
-[ Yells ]
-♪ Bad cops, bad cops ♪
-♪ Springfield cops are on the case ♪
♪ But what do you expect for the money we make? ♪
-But "Cops" ' winning formula couldn't work
without the active participation
of the people with the most to lose.
-Every person whose face you saw on the show,
that person signed a release.
[ Woman speaking indistinctly ]
-And I just found it shocking
that they actually signed the waivers,
like, "Hey, I'm going to be on 'Cops.'
This is great."
Have you seen what you've done?
My name is Keith Burns, and, in the '90s,
I was a cop on "Cops."
So, after the dust settled,
then the people that were arrested
were in the back of the car,
and the "Cops" crew would then approach them,
and identify themselves.
-It was the cameraman's responsibility
to release the people involved.
I'd barely get the word
"Cameraman for the TV show 'C... '"
and they're like, "'Cops.' I was hoping you'd say that.
Give me that. You got a pen? Give me the pen.
Man, I can't wait to tell my mama."
-Everybody just dumped all the empties into your car?
-Obviously, an intoxicated person
can't release themselves in that state or condition,
so we'd have to get their phone number,
and we'd follow up with them when they were less intoxicated.
-Touch the tip of your nose.
-You know, we'd ask nice.
Now, and I'll tell you this...
I got at least a couple of releases
with a kind word and a cold can of Coca-Cola.
[ Indistinct talking ]
You would be surprised how a little bit of good salesmanship
can get a good release.
-I can tell you right now
the reason that people signed the release.
It's because, for 5 minutes of fame, they'll do anything.
-There, in that open apartment window.
-One of the funniest incidents I was involved in...
-Stands in his window with his curtains up.
-This woman, every time she would do the dishes,
her neighbor would climb up onto his kitchen sink, and...
-You know [bleep]
- What? - And it's embarrassing.
He plays with himself.
-So, I get there.
Now, there's a film crew with me.
Do you mind if I come in and talk to you?
Thank you.
And he was wearing nothing but a towel.
And, in front of 60 million people,
he confessed to exactly what he did.
-Well, let's put it this way...
I knew what I was doing was wrong.
I just find her sexually attractive, I guess.
-It was... So, it's bizarre.
-I mean, is it necessary for me to be arrested?
-Well, see, we consider it illegal to masturbate
in front of women in this state.
-I guess so.
-Now, remember, this was before social media.
This was giving them the opportunity,
"Geez, I'm gonna be on national television."
-Am I gonna be on "Cops" one day?
-One day, you're gonna be on "Cops."
-But was this just people looking for their chance
to get on television, no matter the cost?
Or was there more to it?
-You see those clips that they want you to see.
You don't see the reality of the situation.
And you don't see the idea of, like, this larger structure
of law enforcement.
-Put your hands on the car!
If you move, I'll break your head open.
-It didn't happen every time.
There were plenty of people who had enough sense to say "no."
- Fuck you and them cameras. - All right.
-Cracker-ass bastards.
-If the person refused to sign...
-You're the one running around with...
- they would just blur their face out.
So, if you ever see the "Cops" episodes
where their faces are blurred out,
they refused to sign the waiver.
-The show's groundbreaking style also wins over the TV industry.
In the early '90s,
"Cops" is nominated four times for an Emmy,
and wins Best Reality Based Program
at the 1993 American Television Awards.
-Over the years, I've had a lot of people ask me, you know,
"It wasn't all really real, was it?
I mean, some of that was staged, right?"
No.
Everything that you saw on the "Cops" TV show
was true reality television.
There was no staging.
There was no coaching, or acting.
-We were warned by the FCC,
"Don't say this is real if it's not.
You could get into a lot of trouble that way."
-If it happened in front of my lens...
-Drop the bag.
- you saw it on TV.
-Well, you saw it if the local police department
gave their okay.
To help make sure they did,
the show's producers, Barbour and Langley,
were willing to filter reality
to help their subjects look their best.
-That's one of the key things I don't think
the public ever understood about the show,
was it was truly a partnership between the production company
and these law enforcement agencies.
-Police department!
The house is on fire! Come out!
-The agencies had editorial control.
-If they see something that they think would be
an embarrassment to the agency,
they can always say, "You know what, we don't want that.
Don't put that on there."
-He kicked the door in on the wrong house.
-How do we write this one up?
-You're the supervisor. You tell me.
-And Barbour-Langley, of course, has to go along with that
in order to have the access to these police agencies.
-I mean, we were pro-police.
I mean, that's why we were called "Cops."
Otherwise, they'd call us "Robbers."
-And working alongside police all day
can blur the line between crew and cop.
-Once, we had cornered this hot car up in Ohio,
and the kid did a leg bale into an apartment complex.
When I saw Richie, the cameraman,
and our officer go one way, I came back the other way.
I was on some steps, and he was running right toward me.
And I realized, "You're tired. You want to end this thing."
So, as he ran by, I jumped off the steps, just like Batman.
And I took him to the ground.
And to my horror, I see Richie, with the camera, filming me.
And I said, "Oh, no."
So, I got off him, like, real quick,
because I could have lost my job.
But I didn't. They left it in there.
But you have to really look for it,
because it's so quick.
And you say, "Wait a minute? Did that really happen?
Who was that?"
Actually, that's happened quite a few times.
-Don't worry about your head, son.
You're under arrest.
-This version of reality seen on "Cops" turns Barbour
and Langley's low-budget series into a lucrative global brand.
-Now, here's your chance to own official "Cops" gear.
"Cops" gear is available
from your favorite retailers, Cop Shop.
-This show is now making a ton of money.
-Or directly from Cops, The Store.
-What's essentially happening is that you get
this sort of glossy Hollywood advertisement for policing.
-But while the "Cops" camera crews
capture their law enforcement- approved version of policing,
a much uglier glimpse of police at work
is caught on a camera the cops don't control.
-Unlike a lot of other cops, Broward County Deputy Sheriff
Linda Canada has done her job on national television.
-Portraying patrol officers as heroes makes "Cops"
a ratings hit in the early '90s.
- and comfort a little girl who was frightened
of her mother's boyfriend.
-How about if I drive by and shine my light through the window
so you know that I was here? I'll just come by...
-Linda Canada may be the face of pro-cop propaganda,
but not everyone is buying the feel-good story
that "Cops" is selling.
-Absolutely, there were people who saw this show
as problematic, and challenging,
because it was part of the selling
of an unjust justice system to the American public.
I'm Rashad Robinson.
I'm the president of Color of Change.
-Yeah, you're looking sharp.
-Doing my best. Doing my best.
In the '90s, I was leading youth protests
out in my community on Long Island.
Black and brown communities have always been treated
like enemy combatants from police officers,
whether it was from the very first police departments,
which were slave patrols,
to the batons and the hoses that were sprayed upon our people
when we were marching to be able to express
our will for a better future through the vote,
to all of the police officers
that constantly get off for violence.
Time and time again,
police officers' lives have been put far above
the lives of everyday people in ways that no other profession
in our society gets treated.
-But in the early '90s...
-Wow.
-Omnimovie uses full-sized VHS tapes.
- advances in personal video cameras will open the door
for citizens to expose hidden societal injustices.
-We saw a huge rise in people being able to film things
for themselves, and tell their own stories.
-And one of the biggest stories of the decade
is captured on this home recording.
-The three police officers facing felony criminal charges
were among a group of 15 who stopped a 25-year-old.
-In this pre-Internet era,
the footage of LAPD officers beating Rodney King
becomes the TV news equivalent of a viral video sensation.
-Now the story that might never have surfaced
if someone hadn't picked up his home video camera.
We've all seen the pictures of Los Angeles police officers
beating a man...
-We see this on screen,
all across the news, everywhere.
-Civil rights organizations say
the Los Angeles Police Department
has a history of brutality and misconduct.
-Law enforcement agencies denounce the officers' actions
as an anomaly and a stain on the profession.
-Chief Gates today called the LAPD a "model department,"
and said he has no plans to resign.
-We, the jury, in the above entitled action,
find the defendant, Stacey C. Koon, not guilty.
-On April 29, 1992,
the four officers charged in Rodney King's beating
are found not guilty.
LA explodes in the aftermath.
-Within an hour of the verdict, roving, angry gangs
were taking to the mean streets
of South Central Los Angeles.
-As crowds build on a corner in downtown LA,
police gather nearby, but refuse to engage.
-Within minutes, unchecked by police,
who were nowhere in sight, the mob began looting stores.
-When they finally move in,
it's too late to stop the rioting.
-The police are powerless, left to form skirmish lines.
-They don't represent the people no more.
-Anything that the protesters
could actually get their hands on.
-Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley
urged citizens to show their outrage
in a constructive manner.
-We don't want you to resort to violence.
That would only destroy every positive thing
that we have been doing.
-The mayor didn't know it, but it was already too late.
-37 people dead, more than 1,300 injured,
more than 4,000 arrested.
Damage estimate... $200 million and rising.
A few hours ago, the man who had become the unwilling symbol
of this outbreak of violence
decided it was time to speak out.
Rodney King appealed for peace.
-I just want to say, you know, can we can we all get along?
Can we... Can we get along?
-The White House takes a hard line against the violence,
but is indifferent to the police action that provoked it.
-What we saw last night and the night before
in Los Angeles is not about civil rights.
It's been the brutality of a mob, pure and simple.
-Out on the streets, the anger only intensifies.
♪♪
-Performer Ice-T is hot this summer.
His album "Body Count" and the song "Cop Killer"
are moving up the music charts with a bullet.
But cops and others are angered by these lyrics.
-♪ I'm 'bout to kill me something ♪
♪ A pig stopped me for nothing ♪
♪ Cop killer ♪
♪ Better you than me ♪
They've still got to deal with the question,
why did I write this record?
Cops have beaten on my friends.
They deal with us like we're savages.
They call us "savages."
They pull you out the car. They call you "..."
You don't know.
Unless you are in the car with me, you don't know.
But Black people know.
-And in major cities, voices begin calling for diversity,
demanding police departments hire more men and women
who actually know what it's like to be Black in America.
Nowhere is the need for change more keenly felt
than in Los Angeles.
The new regime recognizes that the show "Cops,"
with its positive portrayal of police officers,
could play an important role
in changing the reputation of the LAPD.
At first, the police chief said,
"No. We don't want 'Cops' here."
The very next police chief said,
"Yes. Bring them here. We need to fix our PR."
-Come here.
Get on the ground. Get on the ground!
-Well, it's not just the LAPD.
It's other police departments that actually sought out "Cops"
to help them build a new image.
If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know.
Instead of actually doing the deeper examination,
instead of actually digging into accountability,
the police departments lean into public relations.
-And for the police officers, appearing on "Cops"
is an opportunity that's too good to pass up.
-I absolutely believe that being on "Cops" is great PR for cops.
Absolutely.
That was one of the reasons I agreed to do it.
- Get on the ground. - Get on the ground.
-The overwhelming majority of police officers
are out there to do the right thing the right way,
help their community, make it a safer place.
Sheriff's office.
Put your hands up where I can see them.
Stay in the car. Stay in the car. Put your hands up.
We live there, too,
so we'd like to make a difference in the community.
Do you have anything in your pockets I should know about?
Any needles? Anything that can hurt me?
And do it the right way... Be a part of the community,
and be accepted by the community for what we do.
Powder cocaine.
-You are presenting and representing
the entire police profession when you are on that show.
So, you're high and you're watching the kids.
-I know.
-That's important.
As far as I'm concerned, I think you should go to jail.
That's... That's an opportunity...
An opportunity to touch the lives of others,
and let them see what it's really like to be a cop.
We don't want to ruin...
We don't want to ruin your kids' lives.
-I don't want to ruin them, either,
'cause they're just kids.
-I think you need more help than you going to jail.
The problem is, I'm very concerned
about those littler kids.
-They call drugs a "victimless crime."
-Yeah, I got three little victims in there.
-Many people became cops because of "Cops."
You know, this idea of seeing people
make a difference... On screen, at least...
And you're seeing a difference.
You want to be a part of it.
-But being a part of the team actually making the show,
that was a mixed bag.
-It was... It was a dangerous gig, for sure.
No doubt about it.
-And for Mark, that danger comes from a place he least expects.
-I was accidentally shot by a policeman
I was working with in Chesapeake, Virginia.
- Turn around. - Hey! Hey, stop!
Hey, stop! Stop! - In the '90s,
being a cop on "Cops" can be risky business.
But it can be just as dangerous behind the camera.
-We had close calls all the time.
Guns that were discovered after the fact.
- Gun case in here? - Yeah. Underneath the bed.
-Man, I can't tell you how many crazy car chases
I've been in.
All of us who worked on the show frequently asked ourselves,
"Which one of us is gonna be the first
to be hurt in a car crash?"
-Oh [bleep]
[ Crashing ]
[ Indistinct talking ]
-The interesting thing about Mark is that
he's the first crew member that had gotten shot.
-We got a radio call about gunfire
in the neighborhood, in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Coming into the neighborhood, and the headlights
swing across this group of young men.
And they're just walking down the sidewalk.
And they're kind of looking over their shoulder at us.
An officer approaches the guy who called.
"Hey, what's going on tonight?"
"Well, I was out here, and I heard gunfire,
and I saw those guys. They had a gun.
And they put it right there in the trunk of that car."
And an officer I'm with opens up the trunk.
And sure enough, there's a shotgun
laying right there in the trunk of the car.
And I'm standing right in front of it.
And at some point, he starts to lift
the gun up, like he's gonna look at it.
And I'm watching him in the viewfinder.
And the words were forming on my lips,
"Hey, don't you want to check that firearm,
make sure it's safe?"
And just through simple geometry,
lifts the gun up, and his finger rolls back
on the trigger guard, presses the trigger,
and the gun goes off.
Fortunately for me, it is not a direct hit.
But I get the shockwave and the fire,
and man, it literally took me off my feet.
And the sound man completely loses his mind.
He thinks I'm dead.
He's walking around in a circle over here,
just screaming at the top of his lungs at the policeman.
And when this happens, I did not hit the button
to stop it, and the camera rolled until it ran out of tape.
So, it's laying on its side, documenting the whole scene.
Marie Jordan was the producer at the time.
Comes to me in the hospital.
And he's like, "Mark, that was the greatest thing
I've ever seen. You know, you're there,
and you got the thing, the gun goes off.
Pan back. You got the whole thing.
It's unbelievable.
I'll make sure you get a dub
so you can show your grandkids someday.
You're gonna love it. It's unbelievable."
To this day, I've never seen it,
I never got a dub.
-Mark's never-shared, never-aired
friendly fire shooting
is an example of how "Cops" only presents police
in a positive light.
And in the '90s, police are increasingly seen
as the solution to every problem.
-We incarcerate more people in this country
than anywhere else in the world.
"Cops" in the '90s was happening at the same exact time
where so many of these laws were being passed around the country
that put us in this mass incarceration crisis.
-If people cannot stop doing things
that threaten other people's lives,
they simply shouldn't be eligible for parole.
-Like the crime bill in '94 that President Clinton pushed.
-And that is the genesis of
the three strikes, and you're out.
-More officers on the street is one anti-crime measure
that experts agree works.
Several of the president's other initiatives
are far more controversial...
Among them, the so-called
"three strikes" and you're out" amendment
mandating life without parole
for those who commit a third violent felony.
-The TV show "Cops," right alongside the press releases
from police departments and the policies being passed
by both Democrats and Republicans,
really led to us being a country
that treats every single sort of challenge we have in our society
as something to incarcerate someone for,
especially if that person is Black or brown.
-[ Speaking indistinctly ]
-These shows, like "Cops," what they do is
they give us a hero law enforcement figure.
They give us a criminal person that has no backstory...
Oftentimes someone who's Black or brown, or poor and white.
-But when it comes to the white suspects that are apprehended...
[ Indistinct talking ]
...it seemed like they talk to them more,
it's more conversational. It's like a laughing matter.
-How come you did that?
-'Cause I'm stupid!
-But when it comes to a drug perpetrator,
a drug pusher, who was usually Black or brown, on the show,
they're seen more like as savages.
You know, they're tackled, wrangled to the ground,
houses broken into.
-Put your hands up. Put your hands up!
-Scientific studies of the show "Cops"
would later prove this inherent racism.
-Those who were actually perpetrating the crimes,
that's race-based, as well.
Crack was seen as a destructive, cheap drug
for poor communities of color.
And we see that in this show.
-Let me tell you, there's plenty of white people
selling drugs in their, you know, posh neighborhoods,
behind the gated communities.
But they're not doing that overtly in the street,
like a prostitute or a crack dealer on the street corner.
-We don't see the Wall Street individuals getting handcuffed
for their cocaine habits.
And what this does is continuously put in our minds
this idea that these Black and brown individuals
are the ones who are committing these crimes, solely.
And that simply doesn't work with the math of individuals
who are actually committing these crimes
on a larger scale, outside of the media.
-You know, TV has a tremendous impact
on what we do and what we think.
The information that comes into our homes through TV
educates us about so many different things
that we may not be able to touch or understand.
And then, on Saturday nights, people are turning on this show
that is telling them these horrible things
are happening in these communities
where they don't live.
And the thing that is keeping these people
from coming into their communities
and harming them are these police officers.
-Remember what this is. This is entertainment.
This is a... This is a commercial enterprise that,
we're both getting something out of this, right?
Barbour/Langley is getting paid handsomely to produce this show.
-On the ground. On the ground.
-The police are not getting paid anything.
[ Police radio chatter ]
-Sheriff's department.
-But what it does, it gives us the opportunity
to show the public who we are, who we really are.
-What are you doing?
-Chasing bad guys, ma'am.
-In a sense.
-Stay out of my yard.
-Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am.
Sometimes you got to do what you got to do.
-You can't package something that says it's reality
about policing, then let police officers
and police departments, at the end,
decide what you actually get to see.
[ sirens wailing ]
-We're talking about the reality
of this gritty, raw police department.
What actually is real is whatever the police department
wants you to see as real.
-By the end of the decade, the filtered reality of "Cops"
becomes even more detached
from what's really happening in the country.
-You know, starting in the '90s,
violent crime starts to go down.
-It was called "Operation Hammer."
-The violence of the War on Drugs era
reaches its peak in 1991.
And by '99, rates of violent crime across the country
drop almost 50%, and keep dropping.
- the streets of LA.
-But every year that Pew Research tracks it,
they show that Americans believe violent crime
is just steadily going up.
And so, there's a gap that ends up happening
between perception and reality.
-And the climate of outsized fear
that "Cops" has helped create
is about to get much, much worse.
-Three, two, one! Happy 2000!
-By the end of the '90s, "Cops" is showing its age.
Ratings are a quarter of what they once were.
But the way we look at law enforcement
is about to change dramatically.
[ Siren wailing ]
[ Indistinct shouting ]
After 9/11, the War on Drugs gives way to the War on Terror.
-This crusade, this war on terrorism,
is going to take a while.
And the American people must be patient.
-Police forces become increasingly militarized
in the name of keeping America safe.
And, more than ever,
cops are universally being held up as national heroes.
-That is not only inaccurate, but is deeply dangerous,
because what it does is it prevents us
from actually doing the real work
to solve both the challenges that we have in policing
and the challenges that we have
with safety and justice in our communities.
-For a growing number of Americans,
it seems obvious that keeping America safe
really means keeping white people safe.
The killing of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of the man
who pulled the trigger just confirms these beliefs.
-...story causing heartache and anguish in southern Florida.
Now, the Feds are saying that they're in contact
with local police,
investigating the killing of a teenager
by a neighborhood watch volunteer.
That's an incident raising alarm among civil rights leaders.
- was not committing any crime.
- No. - Our son is your son.
[ Cheering ]
-To think of this system as inherently good is wrong,
because this system, in and of itself,
was created without Black people in mind.
It was created to help increase white power.
-Activists reach out to the company
that helped define America's understanding of policing,
to see if they might want to cancel the show
in light of this new reality.
-During this moment where people are in the streets,
where people are protesting, we reached out to Fox.
And the folks at Fox were not interested.
[ Crowd chanting "No justice, no peace!" ]
-But with more pressure, Fox reconsiders.
-The day before, I was actually heading off
for the protest in front of their studios,
Fox reached out and said they wouldn't be renewing the show.
-Fox cancels its longest-running series in 2013,
after 25 seasons on air.
But "Cops" gets a second life on another network.
-That's when "Cops" moved to Spike TV.
-New episodes of "Cops," Saturdays at 8:00, on Spike.
- "Cops" did what it did with Fox.
It brought new eyes to the network,
and it increased its viewership.
-The show's successful run on cable proves there's an audience
that thinks cops still have stories worth telling.
-...are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
-A show that reveals what police do,
there is not only a place,
it's essential that people see it.
-But today, the Internet delivers
its own version of this show...
Without police censoring what they don't like.
[ Gunshots ]
And 25 years after Rodney King,
shocking video evidence of police killing Black men
is piling up.
-16-19. Both officers okay. Suspect down.
[Indistinct]. Code 3.
- "Cops" was an expression that didn't have a retort.
There are so many retorts now, through the phones
that people carry in their hands
and the videos that get posted on social media.
[ All shouting ]
The gatekeepers have been removed.
-Demands for justice and police accountability get louder...
...until the widening gap between the police you see
on "Cops"...
- Bye-bye. - Bye-bye.
-...and the police you see on YouTube...
-I can't breathe.
-...triggers global outrage.
[ Crowd chanting "Black lives matter!" ]
[ Crowd chanting "No justice, no peace!" ]
At the height of the protests, "Cops" is canceled again.
- "Cops," one of the longest-running TV shows,
has been canceled in the wake of George Floyd's death.
-In the social-political environment of the year 2020,
it doesn't surprise me at all.
-Give me your ID.
I got plenty of chances to taze you.
-Its 33rd was set to premiere next Monday,
but the Paramount Network now tells ET that's not happening,
and, "We don't have any current or future plans
for it to return."
-One year later, the show's creator,
John Langley, dies of a heart attack
during a cross-country off-road race in Mexico.
[ Crowd chanting "Black lives matter!" ]
But despite Langley's death, "Cops," much like the debate
over policing in America, lives on.
- "Cops" is a cultural mainstay, whether you like it or not,
unfortunately, as many people still believe in this ideal
of how the police look.
And I think that "Cops" will find a home somewhere.
-As of October, 2021,
new episodes of "Cops," produced by Langley's son,
are once again airing in the U.S.,
on a streaming service owned by Fox News.
-There are real stories to actually tell
when it comes to policing in this country.
And it is the responsibility of all of us
to hold the media accountable when they create these deep,
deep divides between perception and reality.
♪♪
-Most of our shifts were like 10 hours... at least 10 hours.
So, that's a long time in a car.
-They were with us for, I'd say, two weeks.
And they rode with us nightly.
And we had a lot of fun.
We got to know them.
-And the officers were always concerned
that we would be bored.
I say I've never been bored while on a shoot with cops,
because I enjoy it so much.
-I loved working on the show.
I love the guys. I got to know them.
We're friends.
Made friends with some wonderful, wonderful policemen.
I literally feel like I got years
of law enforcement training
at the knee of some of the best policemen in America.
-Come on out.
-In the car with them,
watching them work, seeing how they talk to people,
seeing how they interact, seeing how they de-escalate,
seeing how they handle different problems,
it was fantastic.
It was so much fun. I loved every minute of it.
-Police officer.
Don't move!
-They saved my bacon on more than one occasion.
-Yeah, there were...
There were a few times when we all kind of crossed the line.
I mean, we're there with a camera,
and we're there as documentarians,
to document what's happening.
But the same time, we are also not going to watch the officer
with whom we're working get his ass kicked
if simple intervention is gonna keep that from happening.
-They were told, "You're not involved.
You're not a cop. Don't get involved."
But there was times when I was in a fight,
and I needed some help, and they helped.
-It could be something as benign or simple as
handing a policeman a flashlight or some extra handcuffs.
But there were a few times when, you know,
crew intervention was...
was needed, and appreciated.
-Some of these guys got into more action than most cops did.
-But it's really disappointing that the police departments
haven't seen reform and accountability
as in their own self-interest, in their own self-preservation,
that they haven't seen the need
to actually rid themselves of the problems
inside their departments, which is why this is such a challenge.
-I know that police corruption exists.
I know that police misconduct exists.
I know that it has to be dealt with.
It has to be dealt with firmly.
But I also know that there has been a portrayal of misconduct
on a scale that doesn't exist.
-If folks think that police officers
are somehow under attack
because there is a movement for accountability,
then they actually don't care about good police officers.
Because, at the end of the day, what we have here
is a systemic and structural challenge
that makes it hard for anyone who does want to go into
policing for reasons that are connected to safety and justice.
-The media and so many of the politicians
have torn apart our profession.
So, you now have a crisis taking place
across this country in hiring and retaining
police officers of good quality.
And this is something that we have to combat,
because we want the right people to have the job.
We want people that have the skills,
that can de-escalate.
We want people that have empathy
and have compassion for people.
-But there's a systemic challenge.
It's not a challenge of the bad apples.
It is a challenge of a rotten barrel...
A rotten barrel and a rotten structure.
[ Crowd chanting ]