“This is just a fundamentally different show than Cops,” Abrams tells Esquire.com. “Cops was about the wacky, crazy moments of people interacting with the police, where this is really about showing the nuances – showing police officers driving to the scene, and what they’re thinking in those moments.” By playing out not only the crime scenes but the moments leading up to them, the show is able to explore the emotional reality of police work hour-to-hour, and the fear that can accompany “even a mundane traffic stop”.
That’s not to say that Live PD is always on the side of the police. Abrams emphasizes that the live footage will show both sides of the national argument about police conduct, pointing to a confrontation between a member of the Tulsa gang unit and a civilian in the show’s first episode. “This guy starts screaming at the cop, saying ‘Why are you targeting me? Why are you harassing me?'” Abrams recalls, “and that’s an important moment because it was not pro-cop. I think a lot of people watching would have sympathized [with the civilian]. You’re going to see a diversity of moments that mirror the national discussion.”
Though there is a slight delay on the live footage—not for editorializing but for legal issues around jeopardizing ongoing investigations—is as unfiltered as possible. The show’s producers have likened it to NFL Red Zone, moving in and out of locations to chronicle police patrols in six different American cities simultaneously: among them a local PD in Bridgeport, Connecticut; a gang unit in Tulsa, Oklahoma; a county sheriff’s department in Walton County, Florida.
With episode three set to air this evening, the show’s already-timely remit has taken on a new tone in the wake of Trump’s presidential election, which has sparked waves of both protests and hate crimes across the nation. Though political unrest hasn’t yet featured in the two episodes to air so far, Abrams acknowledges that this may well change. “Tonight’s [November 11] is our first live episode since the election, so we’ll see,” he notes. “It would have been fascinating to have done a show on Wednesday night.”
Live PD airs on A&E Friday nights from 9-11 p.m. ET.
Article Appeared @http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a50596/aes-real-time-cop-show-live-pd-wants-to-make-policing-more-transparent/
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