Cops

Episode of COPS

Reality TV

COPS

My first initial reaction to COPS was the song. “Bad boys, bad boys whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you ….” (Inner Circle Band 1987). I think just the song alone already motivates people to think or imagine what it would be to have Cops come after you. The particular show that I viewed was not violent towards the Law enforcement. I had never sat down and watched the show, so I had imagined it to be full of violence and hostility towards the police officer.

COPS is video taped in different counties in the State of Missouri. There where 3 case that unfolded with in the half hour show time. The first case was a drive by shooting. Officer Jason Crump received the call (a priority call). Officer Crump was Caucasian male about his mid thirties. The drive by shooting included a gentleman about his mid twenties, a young lady who claimed she was 18 years old, and her younger brother age 12 (all Caucasian). The motive was to either harm the man or the girls, but the one who got hurt (shot at) was the 12-year-old boy. The offenders shot at the back of the vehicle, which ended up hitting the 12-year-old boy. All the victims cooperated with the police and during the videotaping of the show the Police Officer questioned the victims. Some of the questions were the color of the vehicle, handgun style, did they know the offenders, but he did not ask the ethnicity of the offenders. I found that odd, because with our research most Police Officers would profile and this was not the case. The neighborhood where the incident took place seemed to be in a Caucasian neighborhood. I personally did not see any unwarranted or unnecessarily harsh treatment. As the situation unfolded it sadden me to see a young boy being a victim of such an unnecessary crime. Both police and victims in my assumption acted correctly. I did not see any gender or class difference among the officers and the victims. As for age my initial...