HH on TV Cop Shows
Howard Hamilton does not watch much TV. He did not grow up on Dragnet or Adam-12 but heard the stories or watched a rerun as a teenager. With two teenagers, work and keeping up the house he tries to squeeze entertainment into his life, but it is not easy. Today’s television shows portray either a staged reality, a supersleuth detective who violates everyone’s civil rights in pursuit of the bad guy, or a too smart to fail hero or heroine who solves the crimes in twenty-three or forty-six minutes.
He knows that most detectives never get in a shooting, and 95% of uniformed officers rarely draw their weapons or use deadly force. Still, others show very sloppy approaches to danger and officer safety, a lack of understanding of the law, or a blatant disregard for their safety. He understands the need to entertain an audience but wishes people would not project their television viewing into the real world.
He loves to point out to his kids the obvious mistakes made on the screen:
- Uniformed officers or detectives park their vehicles right in front of the location they are responding to. Or always get a parking space right in front.
- Walking directly up to a door and knocking. Stand to the side, just in case a round is fired from the closed door, Duh!
- When responding to a call at a specific address, not deploying someone to the rear, just in case someone decides to rabbit.
- Unnecessarily advising someone of their constitutional rights. Spontaneous statements are admissible, even if not Mirandized. It is only necessary if you question them.
- Walking a foot beat with a cup of coffee in one hand and a doughnut in the other.
- Easily cuffing an uncooperative suspect. It is not that easy!
- Evidence does not get analyzed in one day or less. Crime labs are overburdened, and a backlog is standard. Everyone’s case is a rush, not just the one portrayed on the screen.
- DNA results take days or a week, not twenty-four hours.
- Eyewitnesses do not always get it right. Corroboration is always necessary.
Most of the time, television or the movies look for the most expeditious way to resolve a case. In most cases, the efforts are not successful or come as easy as portrayed. There are many dead ends, with time spent not knowing if something will materialize or not.
