What is the breakthrough that COPS made?
The big breakthrough that COPS made is that John Langley, the producer, convinced local police departments that participating in his show would be good for them–that it would give them a way to circumvent the news.
When did cops start?
When COPS started in 1989 , it was the height of the ‘War on Drugs,’ crime was quite high, and the public’s image of the police and their ability to fight crime was at an all-time low. COPS took advantage of that time in our culture.
What percentage of COPS traffic stops are traffic stops?
Things like pretext stops–25 percent of all COPS interactions are traffic stops, and a huge portion of them are pretext stops, the practice of stopping people on a technicality, just so they can investigate someone they suspect may be involved in some other crime. This is all framed as “good policing.”.
What percentage of cops are drug crimes?
There were a huge amount of drug busts, 36 percent of all COPS segments are drug crime, which is over three times the rate in real life. There was a real appetite for that in a certain part of the culture. Fear was high and they wanted to think that the police were “doing something.”.
Is COPS still the dominant depiction of how policing works in America?
COPS is no longer the dominant depiction of how policing works in America. For 25 years, it really was. I don’t think you can overstate how powerful that was in terms of how Americans see policing and what they think is “good” versus “bad” policing.
