On Patrol: Live - General Discussion

[Taeolas]

57 minutes ago, VartanFan said:

I was talking to my sister about this. I think the showrunners and A&E are totally bummed.  Maybe I watched too much unReal, but I think they'd be rubbing their hands in glee over the ratings.

I do think it would have been awful for the departments and the hosts, however. 

 

 

Yeah I agree. In a similar post I made on another board, I suggested that A&E and the showrunners are probably a little disappointed they can't capitalize on this.

 

But for the host departments, the TV hosts and the crews in the field, they're probably very happy they didn't have to be live with this mess going on. The riots are a very large elephant in the room that would be hard to commentary around. Dan, Tom and Sticks (and their caption writers) would have to walk a VERY fine line, condemning the actions that lead to this, expressing support for proper justice, while also condoning the departments that are handling this well (even as other departments seem to be going to the opposite extreme). The lag from the remote hosting certainly wouldn't help either and just makes things more difficult. 

 

On top of that, even with the longer delay, you can be sure if any LivePD crews were on the air last weekend, protesters would have sought them out to demonstrate live that way. It's probably certainly a risk that will be on everyone's minds this coming weekend. There will probably a lot more carefully edited "recorded earlier" segments coming up this weekend. 

 

Upon further thought, unless things really take a turn for the worse this week, I strongly doubt they will cancel the episodes this coming week. It's too valuable of a PR tool to try and show a better side of policing in general and to help start some of the healing. With the prep time they have available they should be able to script good responses too. 

 

Has anyone checked the active LivePD departments, to see if any are for locations with rioting? Most of them seem to be smaller cities and suburban locations that seem to be out of the main hotspots at least. (Lawrence Indiana may be too close to the action in Indianapolis)

[iluvobx]

It was not an easy night for RCSD on Sat.  What happened here did not rise to the level of some places but for the area, it was bad.  Several LEOS were injured, patrol cars set on fire and broken windows.  Destruction within a certain area.

With all the protest and rioting going on, Tulsa PD has left LivePD effect immediately.  

It would be interesting to see what happened from the police's perspective and their view of it.

RCSD was called in to help Columbia Police Dept (city is in the county) and Berkeley County was called in to help in Charleston.

Edited June 3, 2020 by iluvobx
correct typo

[VartanFan]

10 hours ago, iluvobx said:

With all the protest and rioting going on, Tulsa PD has left LivePD effect immediately.  

Wow - I’m actually surprised by this.  I know that I will be watching on Friday with some anxiety related to what we could see.  

[Jaded]

‘Live PD,’ ‘Cops’ Pulled from TV Schedules in Light of George Floyd Protests

[Taeolas]

The only thing unexpected about this, is that they waited until today to cancel the episodes.

Especially with Saturday being the 300th episode. Tough to have a celebratory milestone episode with so much illwill in play against the police. It would have been horrible optics to say the least. 

 

I'd dare say it will probably be cancelled for most of June at this point, and maybe things will be calmer leading into the ID4 weekend to start airing again.  

[Taeolas]

It was nice to see a LiveRescue ep again, even if it was a repeat. 

As for LivePD, I realize they had almost no warning about the preemption, but still, I'm a little disappointed they didn't have Dan film a statement to air just before LiveRescue, explaining why LivePD was preempted and a little on LivePD's stance on the current events. What that stance actually is, and explaining it in an appropriate manner that doesn't lead to a mob outside A&E would be difficult; but that's why they have writers, editors and producers to review and refine the statement.

[howiveaddict]

Just read that Cops was cancelled and they are weighing if LIve PD will return.  They show so  many good things the police do on this show. It is Weekend must see tv for hubby and me.  

[Taeolas]

I can understand if they delay LivePD until the fall maybe, to get some distance. But cancelling LivePD (and Cops for that matter and other Reality cop shows) is a mistake, IMO. 

At the moment, the optics for supporting a cop show is bad. But once change starts happening and tempers start calming, we need to show the good that police do, not just the bad. And to show how departments are learning and adjusting to the new situation. Just because people are focused on the bad actors, doesn't mean all the normal crime and chaos isn't happening. It's good to show why we have police in the first place. 

[Miss Anne Thrope]

Live PD is having optics issues of its own, with a traffic stop by one of "their" departments turning into an in-custody death.     

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Coulda,should, woulda,  perhaps if the perp had been cooperative and pulled over without starting a chase, then cooperated by following the orders of the officer, he wouldn't have been tazed. I honestly think most people who get pulled over start their own shitshow by thinking they are above the law. Quit driving around without a license or insurance, make sure all your lights work, use your freaking turn signals and don't speed. Plus don't drive around stoned or drunk or carrying illegal contraband. 

[oakville]

17 minutes ago, Miss Anne Thrope said:

Live PD is having optics issues of its own, with a traffic stop by one of "their" departments turning into an in-custody death.     

I am surprised that LivePD wouldn't keep the footage. Why would they destroy potentially valuable evidence that could be used at a later date ?

[CrazyInAlabama]

According to what I've read Cops, is gone for good.

Live PD is being looked at by the studio, and A&E, and may never return.    I suspect if anything comes back to live filming, it will be LIve Rescue.      I think so many departments are pulling out of Live PD filming, or are going to, that it will probably never return.   

[Jaded]

It's gone....

I'm guessing the spinoff shows aren't going to proceed either with Live Rescue being a possible exception. Looks like Sticks may have to go back to his day job.

Edited June 11, 2020 by Jaded

[CrazyInAlabama]

Sticks works 4 days/shifts a week, and used his time off for Live PD, and PD Cam, and other shows.    I bet he had a ton of vacation time accumulated.  

I'm not surprised Live PD is gone, with so many departments pulling out, and every second being analyzed.   Plus with the report (on the link in the previous post) where the video was destroyed of a man dying from being tasered, , it just wouldn't be good to air it any longer.    I remember that in the beginning, there were only a few episodes ordered, and then the popularity hit.  

Edited June 11, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[druzy]

 

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Sad to hear this, this show has a huge loyal following.  A&E better not cancel The First 48 , that show is excellent and isn't afraid to keep it real. 

[oakville]

2 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

 

I'm not surprised Live PD is gone, with so many departments pulling out, and every second being analyzed.   Plus with the report (on the link in the previous post) where the video was destroyed of a man dying from being tasered, , it just wouldn't be good to air it any longer.    I remember that in the beginning, there were only a few episodes ordered, and then the popularity hit.  

I am shocked that the show was cancelled.

Is it a result of departments refusing to have their officers  filmed ?

I started watching the show last year & was fascinated by the operating methods of the different police forces.

I liked watching the police force in Montana.

 

[BetterButter]

 

[CrazyInAlabama]

The film crews, and producers crossed the line when they helped cover up a death in custody.    I agree the show did a lot of good, but this ruined it for me.    Dan Abrams has said that the cancellation isn't the end of the show, but I think it should be.   You don't help hide the death of a man.   

I think the second the crew destroying the footage of a man being tased to death came out, this show and everything from this production company should have been yanked off the air.  

Edited June 11, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[BigBingerBro]

I'm really surprised they decided to cancel the show.  I though for sure they'd just re-work it a bit and perhaps try to feature less heavy-handed encounters as much as possible.  As much as I enjoyed the show, there were several times I felt some of the officers crossed the line physically.  I also wonder if many departments decided to pull out.  I wonder how easy that that could be as they were most likely under contract?

[Taeolas]

I hope that with some time and healing, shows like this can come back. It would be a good PR move to show how policing is changing. 

One thing that should happen, is if crews are following officers on patrol (or officers in the field, like LivePD does) then their footage should be jointly owned by the production company and the PD, and submitted into the PD's records like the body cam footage is, with similar access controls. 

If I recall correctly, that was an issue some of the PDs had with LivePD; was that the footage wasn't available to the PD itself when they wanted to use it for their cases, and there were some fights for the access. 

I can understand why a PD would need to subpoena to get the camera footage of a witness who happens to be on the scene. But in the case of LivePD and similar shows, the camera crews are basically part of the Police's response to an incident, so it should automatically be part of the record of the event.  

[thebigboot]

3 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

The film crews, and producers crossed the line when they helped cover up a death in custody.    I agree the show did a lot of good, but this ruined it for me.    Dan Abrams has said that the cancellation isn't the end of the show, but I think it should be.   You don't help hide the death of a man.   

I think the second the crew destroying the footage of a man being tased to death came out, this show and everything from this production company should have been yanked off the air.  

So every single person should hang for the actions of few? Should they be held accountable, by all means yes. But yeah go ahead and fire the editors, etc etc who literally had nothing to do with it. 

Not to mention, the media stands by actors & musicians who’ve committed murders, bigoted hate crimes and more with no trouble to their career. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

The one case may not be the only one where footage was destroyed.     If this show comes back, I'm not watching it. 

[redpencil]

12 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

The film crews, and producers crossed the line when they helped cover up a death in custody.    I agree the show did a lot of good, but this ruined it for me.    Dan Abrams has said that the cancellation isn't the end of the show, but I think it should be.   You don't help hide the death of a man.   

I think the second the crew destroying the footage of a man being tased to death came out, this show and everything from this production company should have been yanked off the air.  

I obviously don't know for sure what is true, but they're saying that for footage that isn't aired (which this wasn't) they always destroy it so that it can't later be used against citizens. I have no idea what their timeline is for doing this (if indeed it's the case), but the incident happened over a year ago I believe, and they claim that it was destroyed after they thought the investigation had been completed. Live PD is saying nobody ever asked them for the footage, others are claiming Live PD stonewalled (unclear if they're claiming this happened before or after footage was destroyed). Not sure we really know the full truth here.

Edited June 12, 2020 by redpencil

[Cotypubby]

PISSED 😡 

Live PD was my favorite show and one of the few things I had to look forward to during this pandemic. Canceling this show is so idiotic. This is exactly the kind of transparency the public needs to see right now.
 

Goddamn fucking cancel culture strikes again.

[IndyMischa]

1 hour ago, redpencil said:

I obviously don't know for sure what is true, but they're saying that for footage that isn't aired (which this wasn't) they always destroy it so that it can't later be used against citizens. I have no idea what their timeline is for doing this (if indeed it's the case), but the incident happened over a year ago I believe, and they claim that it was destroyed after they thought the investigation had been completed. Live PD is saying nobody ever asked them for the footage, others are claiming Live PD stonewalled (unclear if they're claiming this happened before or after footage was destroyed). Not sure we really know the full truth here.

I read an interview with Dan today. Their standard is to destroy film in "a few" weeks. On request of the department, they held onto this footage for three months, until the department finished their investigation. There is also body cam footage of the incident. 

For the DA who never asked to review the footage, to come back a YEAR later, and imply nefarious intentions? Sucks. 

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

If the perp didn't want to get tazed, he shouldn't be out there committing crimes. Play stupid games,win stupid prizes.  

[onatrek]

On 6/10/2020 at 9:22 PM, oakville said:

I am shocked that the show was cancelled.

Is it a result of departments refusing to have their officers  filmed ?

I started watching the show last year & was fascinated by the operating methods of the different police forces.

I liked watching the police force in Montana.

 

Looking at a lot of the officers and departments that have been featured (much of Richland, Warwick, Lawrence, etc.) they have been vocally very upset about and it almost unanimously saying how over and over it's made a HUGE positive difference for community policing.

They said community members feel like they "know" them now from TV and approach to ask about things, ask for help, share more info, etc. as a result of Live PD.

Even officers who have been off for quite some time (Warwick's been awhile obviously, some of the old Richland guys like Mastriani, etc.) have tweeted their dismay about it being cancelled.

[ExplainItAgain]

8 hours ago, IndyMischa said:

I read an interview with Dan today. Their standard is to destroy film in "a few" weeks. On request of the department, they held onto this footage for three months, until the department finished their investigation. There is also body cam footage of the incident. 

For the DA who never asked to review the footage, to come back a YEAR later, and imply nefarious intentions? Sucks. 

I read this too (although I don't think it was an interview - Dan wrote it Q&A style for his blog). Another point he brought up is that LivePD isn't an arm of the departments. He said: "Live PD had a long standing policy to only keep footage for a few weeks absent a specific legal request to retain it and all of the departments we followed were aware of that policy. The reason for this policy was so that we did not become an arm of law enforcement attempting to use Live PD videos to prosecute citizens seen on the footage. Live PD was there to chronicle law enforcement, not to assist the police as a video repository for prosecuting alleged criminals."

[iluvobx]

22 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

The one case may not be the only one where footage was destroyed.     If this show comes back, I'm not watching it. 

The footage was not destroyed because of the content.  It has been stated in the past that they only keep the footage for 6 months.  If I read the reports correctly, he did not die in front of the cameras, he died later.

[iluvobx]

13 hours ago, onatrek said:

Looking at a lot of the officers and departments that have been featured (much of Richland, Warwick, Lawrence, etc.) they have been vocally very upset about and it almost unanimously saying how over and over it's made a HUGE positive difference for community policing.

They said community members feel like they "know" them now from TV and approach to ask about things, ask for help, share more info, etc. as a result of Live PD.

Even officers who have been off for quite some time (Warwick's been awhile obviously, some of the old Richland guys like Mastriani, etc.) have tweeted their dismay about it being cancelled.

Sheriff Leon Lott was upset over the show being cancelled.  His department was the only department that has been on the show from day 1.  It really helped within the communities.  You should see Kevin Lawrence's interview with WIS-TV about the show and it being cancelled.  

https://www.wistv.com/2020/06/12/former-live-pd-deputy-sits-down-discuss-working-with-law-enforcement-shows-cancellation/

[Rlb8031]

59 minutes ago, iluvobx said:

The footage was not destroyed because of the content.  It has been stated in the past that they only keep the footage for 6 months.  If I read the reports correctly, he did not die in front of the cameras, he died later.

The issue isn't the policy to destroy tapes after 6 months. The issue is that when a death occurred on camera, during the filming of the show, none of the producers, lawyers, or executives from the channel did what would normally be done when a death occurs during the filming of a television show and have that video turned over to lawyers who properly might have anticipated a lawsuit.

The agreements with the police departments allowed the departments to have final say over use of those tapes, which provides an incentive for the police to consent to destruction of a tape. Had the department filmed on its own, it also would have been obliged to keep the tape. So the relationship between the show and the departments created an environment where decisions were made that would never have been approved but for that relationship.

[QuinnInND]

3 hours ago, Rlb8031 said:

The issue isn't the policy to destroy tapes after 6 months. The issue is that when a death occurred on camera, during the filming of the show, none of the producers, lawyers, or executives from the channel did what would normally be done when a death occurs during the filming of a television show and have that video turned over to lawyers who properly might have anticipated a lawsuit.

He didn't die on camera, he died later. He had a heart condition that was affected by the tazer. The police had no way of knowing he had a heart condition.  If he hadn't run, he wouldn't have been tazed, and wouldn't have died. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. 

[thebigboot]

4 hours ago, Rlb8031 said:

The issue isn't the policy to destroy tapes after 6 months. The issue is that when a death occurred on camera, during the filming of the show, none of the producers, lawyers, or executives from the channel did what would normally be done when a death occurs during the filming of a television show and have that video turned over to lawyers who properly might have anticipated a lawsuit.

The agreements with the police departments allowed the departments to have final say over use of those tapes, which provides an incentive for the police to consent to destruction of a tape. Had the department filmed on its own, it also would have been obliged to keep the tape. So the relationship between the show and the departments created an environment where decisions were made that would never have been approved but for that relationship.

His death was not on camera, this has been stated multiple times. The facts that have come out about the situation makes the DA look bad, but not Live PD. Well, unless you ignore facts. 

[redpencil]

2 hours ago, thebigboot said:

His death was not on camera, this has been stated multiple times. The facts that have come out about the situation makes the DA look bad, but not Live PD. Well, unless you ignore facts. 

Also, I feel like this is different than when someone dies in the process of filming any other kind of television show (whether scripted, competition reality show, whatever). In those cases, the production could potentially be held liable for someone's death, as they are the ones controlling the script, production conditions, stunts, whatever, and it would certainly be covering up to destroy footage. I can't imagine that would be the case for something like Live PD unless somehow the on-site production was directly involved in a death (like they forced police to take certain actions, or the camera man knocked a citizen off a cliff, or something crazy).

[pasdetrois]

Perhaps they cancelled because they fear liability. I've seen some police activities on this show that gave me pause. And haven't at least two families threatened to sue because of the way they were portrayed? (The portrayals were accurate as far as I'm concerned.)

Tulsa's under fire for its practices. People are already suing because of the way protesters and the media have been treated by police. I can see some of the show's suspects attempt to use the footage as evidence in a lawsuit. From a risk and business perspective, it's safest to cancel the show.

I still have Lawrence and Mastriani on my DVR - the extended scene where they pulled over the two older brothers who were drivin' dirty and lookin' for a shorty.

Edited June 14, 2020 by pasdetrois

[shapeshifter]

Regarding the cancellation of Cops: 
This week on podcast Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, Peter Sagal remarked that the cancellation of the show Cops was as if one lucky protester was given one wish by a genie and she just wasn't quite specific enough.

[Taeolas]

At the moment, I an pretty confident still that both Cops and LivePD will come back eventually; probably in a year or two, once the healing and changes can happen. At the moment, the studios were probably under pressure to the point that just putting the shows on hiatus would not be politically sound. 

In the case of Cops, it has been cancelled before and come back. And it is relatively cheap to produce so I'm sure Paramount will bring it back.

 

For LivePD, LiveRescue will probably be able to carry the Live torch for the next year or so; maybe with a PD mixed in with the Paramedic and FD crews they follow. And when times are more politically friendly for a live PD type show, it will come back. 

[Neurochick]

It's a shame, I actually liked Live PD.  Maybe it will come back on in a year or so, maybe not.  I'm not surprised though. 

[Rlb8031]

On ‎6‎/‎12‎/‎2020 at 6:44 PM, QuinnInND said:

He didn't die on camera, he died later. He had a heart condition that was affected by the tazer. The police had no way of knowing he had a heart condition.  If he hadn't run, he wouldn't have been tazed, and wouldn't have died. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. 

He is on tape telling the cop he had congestive heart failure. So had they listened and not tazed him he wouldn't have died. 

[Schnickelfritz]

2 hours ago, Rlb8031 said:

He is on tape telling the cop he had congestive heart failure. So had they listened and not tazed him he wouldn't have died.

Because no drug addict/ criminal has ever lied to the police??? He wasn't very concerned about his own health if he was on meth and fentanyl.

[Rlb8031]

47 minutes ago, Schnickelfritz said:

Because no drug addict/ criminal has ever lied to the police??? He wasn't very concerned about his own health if he was on meth and fentanyl.

If cops assume that all people are lying to them, they also need to accept the consequences when that assumption is incorrect. If the police are professionals, they have to understand that the same way a doctor is held liable if they accidently kill a patient or a lawyer is held responsible if they accidently disclose evidence, they are going to be held responsible if they make a judgement call and are wrong. Haven't most of these recent cases proven that? Err on the side of caution and 1) the guy lives, 2) the cops lives aren't upended and 3) the show is still on.   

[sharkerbaby]

Always a lot of concern shown when someone tries to evade arrest as well.  Running, evasion, non compliance, and disregarding instructions certainly ensures ones own safety as well as those around you including innocent bystanders.  /sarcasm  Should go without saying but it's necessary to express that none of these actions justify death - it's almost a certainty there would be minuscule risk of injury let alone death if compliance was the first course of action rather than the last.

[howiveaddict]

11 hours ago, Schnickelfritz said:

Because no drug addict/ criminal has ever lied to the police??? He wasn't very concerned about his own health if he was on meth and fentanyl.

And the drug abuse probably caused his congestive heart failure.

We had a local case where someone , on drugs, died after being tazed,

Live PD showed a lot of good things that police do for the community.  It also showed occasionally when too much force was used. Or was in my opinion at times.   

[sonder]

There is a change.org petition to bring LivePD back. Not sure what the petitions even do, I see them for anything. I miss the show. 

[cynicat]

On 6/15/2020 at 10:35 PM, howiveaddict said:

Live PD showed a lot of good things that police do for the community.  It also showed occasionally when too much force was used. Or was in my opinion at times. 

I am of the belief that the vast majority of police officers are decent, honest people who care about others, and that's why they do this.  However, this show made me recognize how pervasive the racism and what I can only see as anger, are in law enforcement.  Live PD did show many, many positive things that warmed my heart. 

What opened my 'white privileged' eyes and scared me a lot, (and also made me stop watching), was the behavior exhibited by some of them, even though they knew they were being filmed.  That means we didn't see any of the REALLY bad stuff.  I was disgusted.

[pasdetrois]

One thing that always bothered me about the show was the tendency of the three hosts to chuckle and make snide remarks about people who live lives in severe distress. Dan Abrams is the King of Smug and Smirky Smiles.

I'm not talking about the obnoxious suspects, the mouthy families, the people acting up for camera time. I'm talking about the fact that many of the people on the show came out of racism, poverty, and abuse, the ones with mental illness.

Sticks and Tom were less obvious about it but still participated.

I do understand how police officers, medical personnel, teachers and social workers form biases because they see the same patterns over and over for years. Historically it has been very bad on Indian reservations. The current statistics on brutality against native women are shocking, with many complaints of being dismissed by law enforcement. Several years ago a high-ranking police officer in Atlanta whistleblew that the APD was purposefully destroying evidence of rape in order to bolster the city's profile.

As a southerner who grew up seeing unbelievable racism, and who has a relative who is a racist police officer, even I have been surprised by how pervasive racism and brutality are across the police NOW. I didn't expect to see so many instances of it across America with the cameras rolling to record it.

Edited June 21, 2020 by pasdetrois

[Schnickelfritz]

13 hours ago, sonder said:

There is a change.org petition to bring LivePD back. Not sure what the petitions even do, I see them for anything. I miss the show. 

Just doing a search on their site pulled up 12 on the 1st 2 pages of results. Consolidate,  people!

[thebigboot]

On 6/15/2020 at 11:54 AM, Rlb8031 said:

If cops assume that all people are lying to them, they also need to accept the consequences when that assumption is incorrect. If the police are professionals, they have to understand that the same way a doctor is held liable if they accidently kill a patient or a lawyer is held responsible if they accidently disclose evidence, they are going to be held responsible if they make a judgement call and are wrong. Haven't most of these recent cases proven that? Err on the side of caution and 1) the guy lives, 2) the cops lives aren't upended and 3) the show is still on.   

That’s hilarious if you honestly believe the bit about the doctors. 

[Taeolas]

Well it's not LivePD, but it looks like CourtCam survived the Live purge. A&E is advertising new episodes starting in a few weeks now. I wonder when they filmed Dan's voice overs for it.

I'm still missing the main show. Crave On Demand here in Canada has eps of LivePD and LivePD Rewind available so I've had them on for a bit at least. I suspect that will only be for a few more months at best.