# Finding stuff on cop shows **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 11, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470 "2011-05-11T03:07:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470/21 "2011-05-12T18:14:04Z")
> [@Nanoda](#): > > I’ve always been more interested in how, when they interview _anyone_ outside of the precinct, that person _cannot be bothered_ to stop doing their job for the 90 seconds it takes to answer their questions. > > If the cops dropped by my work for a chat about a recent homicide, I could probably find 5 minutes to talk to them exclusively. Yeah, that’s starting to get to me. “Oh my goodness, there was a _murder?_ Of someone _I know_? Well, I’d love to help you, but I have to get to the most boring lecture on beetle dung you’ve ever heard, because if I miss as second of the lecture, I’l have to actually read the textbook.” “Egads, a murder. Well, be quick, because I have to look like I’m doing my job or my boss will fire me. [wave at boss]” ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470/22 "2011-05-12T18:32:03Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Besides, the body count in most of these shows in one season is closer to the historical bodycount of entire major cities. Hee. I’m with you here. When my husband watches Hawaii Five-O I’m always thinking, “Oooh, Hawaii is so pretty… WHAT!? Another murdered/kidnapped/tortured tourist? Uh, no thanks” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470/23 "2011-05-12T19:16:17Z")
And of course the cops never press for details. Suspect: If you want to talk to me, talk to my lawyer. [cops walk away without asking what the lawyer’s name is, though somehow they have that information by the next scene] Similarly, “Yeah, the guy you’re looking for, he’s got an apartment on 14th street.” Cut to 3921 14th street, apartment 3F… _dun-dunn!_ So, how many serial killers did Gil Grissom catch? And how many took a personal liking to him and starting sending clues directly to him first? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470/24 "2011-05-12T21:57:38Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I’m reminded of the Monty Python line _“it’s only a model”_. > > It’s only a one hour show. > > Their only alternative to this kind of short cut is an extensive montage of questioning, searching and other work. That would get really old really fast. > > […] > > Back to the point, it isn’t real, and it is only a one hour show. They have about 44 minutes to figure it all out, and they have to do it or there would be no show. No one wants to watch episode after episode of _NCIS: Unsolved Cases_. Actually, I liked _Homicide: Life on the Streets_. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470/25 "2011-05-12T22:41:31Z")
My all-time favorite was an episode of L&O where Lenny Briscoe was in a suspect’s apartment who had left. So he picked up the Yellow Pages, dropped it on its spine, and it opened to the page the guy had opened it to previously. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470/26 "2011-05-12T22:59:20Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Yeah, that’s starting to get to me. “Oh my goodness, there was a _murder?_ Of someone _I know_? Well, I’d love to help you, but I have to get to the most boring lecture on beetle dung you’ve ever heard, because if I miss as second of the lecture, I’l have to actually read the textbook.” > > “Egads, a murder. Well, be quick, because I have to look like I’m doing my job or my boss will fire me. [wave at boss]” While I’d be empathetic to someone who lost someone violently, if they’re at work, I’d expect them to, _you know_, work! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470/27 "2011-05-13T00:14:28Z")
It doesn’t even have to be at the office. The cops will drop by a home and it’s “Hey, the FBI needs to question me about my potential involvement in a murder but these cupcakes aren’t going to bake themselves…” ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470/28 "2011-05-13T00:34:05Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Besides, the body count in most of these shows in one season is closer to the historical bodycount of entire major cities. What? No way. New York–even with the precipitous drop in rate–has hundreds of murders annually. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470/29 "2011-05-13T02:24:02Z")
> [@Sarabellum1976](#): > > One of my favorite cop shows is Castle, which takes a slightly tongue-in-cheek approach to the evidence-gathering. When Detective Beckett wants some information (or wants the audience to have some information), she asks a guy named Esposito (Exposition) to go get it for her. Gotta love it. Hmm. Never thought about it that way. Regardless of whether his name actually does mean that, it does sound kinda similar. Iiiinteresting. I’ve done a little bit of temping and, if the office has the usual alphabetical filing system, and I know what name or company I’m looking for, it doesn’t take long at all. Besides, in current TV shows, they sometimes fail. > [@etv78](#): > > While I’d be empathetic to someone who lost someone violently, if they’re at work, I’d expect them to, _you know_, work! :rolleyes: I think this may be a ‘dependant on tips’ culture. When I worked in pubs in the UK the staff would very occasionally have to speak to the cops, and they just went somewhere private and talked to them. I can only think of two occasions where that wasn’t directly related to work, but in the TV shows, even when it is directly related to work (a regular customer might have been killed by another regular) they’re in a hurry to move off. In real life that would seem like suspicious behaviour. Also, it’s far more interesting to let them speak to the cops and then ask them about it (if appropriate) or speculate amongs yourselves. You feel like you’re in Eastenders or something. 😃 But their tips weren’t their main source of income, so that might explain the difference. I mean, obviously it’s dramatic license, but dramatic license is not equally valid in all jurisdictions. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470/30 "2011-05-13T13:17:24Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > What? No way. New York–even with the precipitous drop in rate–has hundreds of murders annually. But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you, Steve Sax…? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470/31 "2011-05-13T13:51:40Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > Slightly on topic: I just started playing Batman: Arkham Asylum. The first person he tracks is by finding his whiskey flask, then following the whiskey vapor trails in the air that he left behind. And then, get this, the Joker figures out that’s how Batman is tracking the guy, and kills him so he can’t leave any more trail. Bwuh? I thought Joker just killed him for fun. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470/32 "2011-05-13T19:49:22Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > While I’d be empathetic to someone who lost someone violently, if they’re at work, I’d expect them to, _you know_, work! :rolleyes: If the cops came up to my office and said they needed a word, I’m sure my boss would have no problem letting me take 20 minutes to actually talk to them, instead of squeeze in a couple sentences and then get back to the [del]slave driving[/del] documentation writing. But I’m salaried in a professional job, so what do I know. I can sort of understand an hourly employee in a service job not being able to take much of a break from waiting tables during the lunch rush, for example, but it doesn’t matter what’s going on. “Oh, I’d love to stay and help you, detective, but I’m walking my dog, and he wants to go down to the corner over there. No, you can’t walk along with us.” ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470/33 "2011-05-13T21:50:20Z")
I used to work at a testing lab where we had all kinds of rules about no visitors, not even family, because of secret formulas and client confidentiality and blah blah blah. One day these two FBI agents showed up at the door and I happened to answer it. I had them wait, went and told my boss they were at the door, and said, “Can I send them away? They don’t have an appointment. They don’t have a warrant.” I just wanted the experience of sending FBI guys packing. Silly I know, but then the boss said, “I don’t even know if we CAN send them away”. Well, I started to educate her about constitutional rights. But she let them in anyway. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470/34 "2011-05-16T22:09:45Z")
In my experience, many TV detectives carry a strange disease that causes suspects to break out in bouts of spontaneous confessions. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470/35 "2011-05-16T23:39:32Z")
This is a little off-topic, but it IS my thread… WHY DO THEY RUN? The suspects run when they don’t have an ice cube’s prayer in hell of getting away. Also WHY DO THE POLICE ANNOUNCE, “IT’S THE POLICE! STOP!” when they’re half a block away… and then act like they don’t expect the presumed bad guy to run? Rhetorical questions, really… ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470/36 "2011-05-16T23:58:45Z")
I’ll just leave this here: [http://comedians.jokes.com/john-mulaney/videos/john-mulaney---law---order/](http://comedians.jokes.com/john-mulaney/videos/john-mulaney---law---order/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-stuff-on-cop-shows/581470.md?page=1)