| The critic cops: City police rate the cop shows ( Edmonton Journal ) EDMONTON-- Writers for TV cop shows -- dial 911 for some emergency lessons in reality. Shows like Law and Order, NYPD Blue and Third Watch can be entertaining, but how much rings true for the real men and women who walk the beat. We spoke to the officers who patrol Old Scona to find out if they cringe or cheer when watching their small-screen counterparts in action. Constables Tim McNeill, Yvonne Abriotti, Aubrey Zalaski and Murray Maschmeyer each have about five years of experience on the force. Station manager, veteran Ian MacKechnie, has been a police officer for 25 years. - Which police shows do you watch? Zalaski: Third Watch and sometimes Law and Order. Occasionally, I' ll browse through Cops. Before I started the job I watched it a lot, but now I don't because I live it every day. MacKechnie: I have watched Law and Order every week for nine years. I also watch Third Watch and NYPD Blue. McNeill: I watch investigative reports and some of the British shows like Touching Evil because I think they're more realistic. On occasion I'll watch Third Watch. Abriotti: Third Watch. Maschmeyer: I mostly watch Third Watch and Law and Order. I also like investigative shows on A&E. - What do you like about them? Maschmeyer: Third Watch shows the human side -- that police and others in emergency roles are real people with real problems, just like everyone else. I like how they show what goes on behind the scenes. - How do shows today compare with older shows such as CHiPs and T.J. Hooker? MacKechnie: They are definitely getting better. The old shows were unrealistic and silly. Hill Street Blues was the first realistic cop show. It had a grungy precinct house and lots of real problems. Zalaski: I like CHiPS, but there were some nasty clothes back then. The music has definitely gotten better. - Do cop shows make your jobs easier or harder? Zalaski: It gives the public false perceptions. I've had people tell me they're going to plead the Fifth -- we don't have that in Canada. Or they expect us to say `you have the right to remain silent' etc. because that's what they're used to seeing on TV. McNeill: We also get people asking for the district attorney. Abriotti: Sometimes TV shows make it harder for us on the beat. People will ask why we're not doing something better like catching criminals. They don't realize giving tickets is actual police work. - Are they realistic? McNeill: For Third Watch to be realistic there would be one episode of catching the bad guy, then six episodes in the office writing reports. That would be followed by two episodes sitting on the bench waiting to testify and about half an episode of testifying in court. Then the cops would be back on the street catching bad guys. It wouldn' t be very entertaining. MacKechnie: Some of the techniques they use -- how they use their weapons or how they search a building -- aren't realistic at all. Maybe that's how they do it in the States, but it's not how we do it in Canada. Abriotti: They always seem to catch the bad guys. They are somehow always in the right place at the right time. Maschmeyer: How about the amount of gun fire or police who get a confession in 60 seconds? - How to make a realistic cop show Everyone: Nobody would watch it. Maschmeyer: If it showed exactly what we do in a 10-hour period, the public probably wouldn't find it exciting. Although within a shift, we can get involved in some pretty exciting situations, it's not 10 hours of jam-packed excitement. Zalaski: Five minutes of excitement usually equates to three or four hours of paperwork. You don't see that on TV. MacKechnie: I actually think paperwork on TV is getting better. Now you'll sometimes see guys at a desk doing paperwork -- they'd never have that on older shows. Abriotti: I'd add more variety with different types of calls. Of course that would affect the entertainment aspect, but a realistic police show would have cops doing lots of mediation, counselling or visiting schools. - Grievances? McNeill: They'll arrest a bad guy, put him in the police car, then turn on the lights and sirens to drive him to the station. Why the siren? They're not in a hurry any more. Abriotti: Officer safety on Third Watch is brutal. In training, we' re taught to always be concerned with your safety and to always inform patrol where you and your partner are so you're covered. Third Watch really lacks in that area. Maschmeyer: In NYPD Blue they portray the constable as some sort of flunky who wouldn't know what to do if someone didn't give him instructions. That's not realistic at all. We investigate all sorts of occurrences -- the majority of them from start to finish. Zalaski: At the station in NYPD Blue you'll see guys are flying through walls and chairs being chucked around the room. It's just a free-for- all. Not realistic at all. MacKechnie: Car chases -- they are over-glamourized and unrealistic. On some shows you have frequent chases where they're roaring through the streets at 100 miles per hour. At the end of the chase, the cops don't appear to be upset. They jump out, grab the guy, cuff him and laugh about it. In real life, your heart is pumping and adrenaline is flowing -- it's really scary. McNeill: When TV cops kick down a door, they have their guns pointed up in the air. That's just to get a good cameo shot of the actor. In reality you'd have the gun pointed to the ground. But a shot of the actors' knees wouldn't be as exciting. Zalaski: On TV everyone has their guns out. Even if they're just giving a parking ticket, they have their firearm in the air. |