Orchard Press Online Mystery Magazine
April 2002
 |
CRIME BEAT
by Paul Davis |
Copyright © 2002 Paul Davis. All rights reserved.
Crime In Prime Time
“It’s not like you see on TV, you know.”
I’ve heard this statement from many police officers over the years.
Most of the cops I’ve met tend to open the conversation by debunking
the public’s erroneous perception of the police, which they believe is gleaned
mostly from television. From car chases to shoot outs, they rarely get it right,
I’m told.
Television producers and writers are quick to shoot back that reality
makes lousy entertainment. Would you be interested in watching an hour long show
about cops on an uneventful stakeout or follow them along as they fill out
forms? But the best crime dramas, it seems to me, do maintain a reality base.
I’ve long been a student of crime, dating back to my days as a South
Philly street kid and aspiring writer. I went on to do security work in the Navy
and later as a Defense Department civilian. As a writer I’ve covered the crime
beat for a good number of years. I’ve gone out on patrol with cops,
accompanied investigators as they worked crime scenes, observed criminal court
proceedings and covered street protests and riots. In this column, I’ll report
on the world of crime in both fact and fiction.
A few years back I attended the pilot session of the Philadelphia
Civilian Police Academy on assignment from a local newspaper. The idea behind
the formation of the Civilian Police Academy was to run 40 citizens through a
modified police training course so they would better understand law enforcement
operations and the policeman’s lot.
When I first heard about it, I said it sounded like one of the plot lines
from the sophomoric Police Academy movie series. But when my editor later called
and asked if I would like to attend and write an 11 part series on my
experiences there, I quickly said sign me up.
The students that attended the pilot session were a mixed group. There
were community leaders, lawyers, town watch volunteers, political aides, clergy
members, corporate security people, average citizens with an interest in police
and crime and one reporter – me.
One thing that I clearly remember from the course was the fact that all
of the instructors took great pains to have us forget everything we ever saw
about police work on television.
“Police recruits are chomping on the bit when they first come here,’
our first instructor told us. “They want to be just like the cops on TV, but
we bring the reins in on them.”
Police recruits are taught not to emulate the behavior of TV cops, who
touch evidence at crime scenes and taste substances to determine if it an
illegal drug. The instructor then went on a long tirade about all of the
technical and procedural gaffes he’s seen on TV. “All baloney,” he
exclaimed.
Well, TV can influence real cops as well, I thought then and now. I
recall a story a cop once told me about where a police captain led a raid on a
suspected drug “shooting gallery.”
Although the place was deserted, the captain found some white powder in a
small open container in the corner of the dilapidated building. He wet his
finger, dapped it in the powder and tasted it.
“Is this heroin? Is this heroin?” he asked repeatedly, touching his
white-tipped finger to his tongue with each inquiry.
“Captain, I think that’s rat poison,” my cop friend advised his
District commander.
He and the other cops barely contained their laughter as the captain
rushed himself to the hospital. Television is so powerful a medium that on
occasion even real cops can be found emulating their fictional counterparts.
During the 10-week course, we were treated like true police recruits and
were taught the proper procedures for hot pursuit. Car chases are a stable
feature of cop shows. The 1971 Academy Award-winning film “The French
Connection” set the standard that TV and movies have since followed. The film
is perhaps best known for Gene Hackman’s precariously hot pursuit of a killer
while driving under the New York elevated train.
Despite the film being an otherwise realistic portrayal of a true crime
story, Hackman, playing a narcotics detective named “Popeye” Doyle, nearly
killed several innocent people in the exciting, fast–paced scene. There was no
such chase in real life or in Robin Moore’s true crime book, on which the film
was based. Moore’s book, one of my early favorites, chronicled the work of New
York detectives Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso, who cracked in the 1960s what was
then described as the world’s most crucial narcotics investigation.
The late George V. Higgins, a former assistant U.S. Attorney in Boston
and the author of one of our best crime novels, “The Friends of Eddie
Coyle,” ridiculed the film’s chase. He said at the time that if a detective
working for him had taken such an action, he would have him checking trashcans
for the rest of his limited career.
The Philadelphia instructors also attempted to dispel any and all notions
from TV about the use of deadly force. Nothing in police work is so scrutinized
or criticized than a police shooting and death. The instructors came down hard
on TV programs like “Miami Vice,” where the TV detectives routinely shot and
killed several people each week. The regular carnage never seemed to ruffle
their psyche or their wardrobe.
But like the Internet, there is both good and bad featured on TV. But for
today’s serious student of crime there is much more, and certainly better,
coverage of the police and crime. From network news magazines to the A&E
Network, where Bill Kurtis reigns as a one man broadcast crime wave, there are
countless dramas and documentaries. As the producer and host of “Investigative
Reports,” “American Justice” and other documentaries, Kurtis offers the
intelligent viewer a good inside look at the world of crime.
A&E also offers reruns of several good crime dramas, including
British imports like “Cracker” and “Sherlock Holmes.” On the networks
there are some outstanding crime dramas like “NYPD Blue,” “Law &
Order” and it’s spin-off series, and on cable there are “The Sopranos.”
On Court TV, they have expanded past the live trial coverage to air reruns of
some old favorites like “Homicide” and “Wiseguy,” as well as “COPS”
and other true crime programs.
Of course there still some silly shows on the air, but for the
discriminating viewer, there are more than a few good choices airing today on
TV,
I’ve come to know many patrol officers, detectives and federal agents
over the years. They are, for the most part, ordinary men and women who are
sometimes called upon to do extraordinary things. Things that just might make a
good TV show.
Contact
the Author - daviswrite@aol.com