For all its flashy editing
and lurid subject matter, the long-running Fox reality series COPS has always been closer to
the cinéma vérité tradition of Frederick Wiseman than the sordid sensationalism
of Cheaters.
After a few network-mandated first-season experiments with dramatic music and
stilted "inside looks" at policemen's personal lives, COPS settled quickly into the
format it's followed for the past 20 seasons: No narration and very little
explanation, just punchy vignettes drawn from the everyday experiences of "the
men and women of law enforcement." There's a rare purity to the whole endeavor.
The double-disc COPS: 20th
Anniversary Edition
DVD collects the series' pilot episode, its 20th-anniversary best-of special,
an hourlong Las Vegas special, and roughly three bonus hours of classic moments
and "toughest takedowns." It's a generous package for COPS fans, but inevitably, a
little unsatisfying. People who enjoy drunken domestic disputes may be
disappointed by the emphasis on chase scenes. People who like chases may wish
the DVDs contained more of the "aftermath" scenes, where the police try to
figure out why the crook was running in the first place. This is how it's
always gone with COPS. The average segment contains two minutes of voyeuristic thrills
surrounded by six minutes of pontificating and standing around—but too
much of the former would be just as taxing.
Still, even though COPS' drive-by version of
documentary filmmaking doesn't give its fans anything like a full understanding
of what they've just seen, the show remains an interesting study in viewer identification
and modern policing. Even the most anti-authoritarian COPS-watcher may eventually
start rooting for the police to take unruly suspects down—something
that's been easier than ever over the last five seasons, now that Tasers have
entered the picture. And even advocates for legalizing drugs and prostitution
may side with law officers over the kind of cocky dimwits COPS finds out on the streets.
If there's one lesson the show hammers home, it's "When a police officer tells
you not to run, you don't run." But that's easy for those of us watching at
home to say. After all, Fox has yet to air COPS' mortifying sequel: PRISON.
Key features: Fairly flat commentary tracks on the pilot
and "Las Vegas Heat" episodes, and informative featurettes about COPS' history and its
pervasive presence in popular culture.