Today in America, police work continues to make the news in negative ways, creating tense situations and scepticism towards those who are supposed to be protecting us.
This is where I believe A&E Networks has come to the rescue.
Besides being wildly entertaining, Live PD shows viewers the side of police work that doesn't often make the news. Light-hearted and informative, the show follows policemen and women dealing with routine calls and traffic stops in some of the country's highest crime-rate areas. The show is live and so viewers get to see what 3 hours on both Friday and Saturday look like for cops.
I started watching Live PD in the beginning of the summer and I immediately became addicted. Usually following five or six departments at a time, the hosts take you from city to city watching their favorite officers deal with anything from small traffic violations to serious car chases and dangerous fights. For the first time, Americans without connection to law enforcement get a glimpse into how tedious, frustrating, scary and rewarding being a police officer can be.
Some of the people the officers have to deal with attempt to cause real problems; they will run, start fights, threaten the officers and others and we watch the officers, time and time again, handle the situations with incredible poise and respect. We see a side of law enforcement that is reasonable, humorous and principled and the the show encourages viewers to learn more about how police operate.
This learning opportunity is an incredible thing. Live PD takes you through how to behave if your are pulled over, questioned by police or in any tense situation with law enforcement present. Through both scary and humorous examples of how not to behave with police officers, the hosts of the show explain what went wrong in these situations with the help of officers on the scene.
When belligerent people become violent or when drug dealers steal cars, viewers are taken along for the ride with mean and women who will deal with anything and everything to help the community. The show lets you become familiar with the officers, so you get to know them at people and so you can admire how they conduct themselves in various stressful situations.
Live PD is growing fast in popularity and this can only be a good thing. Exposing people to the ridiculous situations police officers have to deal with regularly and showing how these officers are great, funny and incredibly brave people can only help ease the tensions that have been been amplified in the past few years.
So thank you Live PD. Thank you for making police work something that can be viewed by all. Thank you for sharing the lighthearted and funny moments along with the serious and scary ones that our officers face. Thank you for making it mainstream and something that people enjoy.
Most importantly, thank you to all of our brave police officers, especially the officers who are willing to give us a glimpse into your hectic world every week.
(P.S. Dan Abrams is the best.)
