I’m more impressed by the cameraman that keeps up than the cops.
Those dudes are awesome. To keep up and climb over fences while hauling a camera is impressive.
I remember an episode where they were looking for a bad guy in a parking lot full of semi-trailers. The cop walked past a trailer with the dude fairly obviously hiding underneath it. The cameraman stopped, pointed and said “is that him?” It was.
Cops is all real. But there have been several imitators that look just like it that are totally fake. You may have stumbled onto one of them. It’s hard to tell them apart because the newer shows immitate the style exactly. But things are filmed just a little too perfectly.
Or the police helicopters.
Heh - in the recent movie “Flight” with Denzel Washington, a guy speaking at an AA meeting says just that.
Rat fink camera man!
This is also true of pants. It’s surprising how often people on Cops are wearing pants that don’t belong to them and have no idea whose crack that is in the pocket.
There was one where the suspect claimed he didn’t notice the pistol when he put on the pants that morning.
Is that a gun in your pocket, or… ah never mind.
Agreed. That’s the thing I’ve always found most shocking. It’s amazing how desperate so many are to get on TV.
This is what we now refer to as The Lindsay Lohan Defense.
Is this actually true? For some reason I thought that being filmed in a public location meant that you had no expectation of privacy: certainly in ones own home, but in public?
But it’s being filmed for a profit making show, And you’re the star!
The producers of the show never show anyone’s face without a signed waiver. Same with all the girls on “Girls Gone Wild”.
It blows my mind, too. We see it all the time on “Judge Judy” - people who look like complete fools on tv, but they came on the show willingly.
I’ve seen a few where, yeah, you may outrun the dog-handler but you won’t outrun the dog.
This. “Stop or I’ll shoot!” is a legitimate choice, marksmanship is not at its best in darkness with adrenaline and running and such. “Stop or I’ll send the dog!” is time to just stop. At least bullets don’t change direction or take it personally.
Actually, what I’ve heard is that a ton of legal paperwork is presented to them, concisely explained and the release is among it all. At that point, you’re already frazzled and just signing stuff to get it all over with.
If only there was a way to combine the two shows into one. Now that would be entertainment!
Maybe these dopey bastards think signing a “release” means they’re going home. 
The thing about Cops is I almost want to laugh at how brazenly stupid some of these people are when they get caught doing a crime, but a lot of the time the story turns sad. You’re ready to see the idiot go to jail, and then you find out their kid is nearby and it’s just pathetic how they’ve not only made a mess of their own lives, but also the lives of everyone they touch.
But I agree about the shirtless thing. People on tv used to dress presentably to do crime. On Dragnet even the bums would have a second hand sports jacket. Frankenstein s monster too.
It’s a bad idea to doze off on the couch with COPS on, unless you want to be woken up with “POLICE! SEARCH WARRANT! GET ON THE GROUND!”