TV Review – Cops with Cameras (ITV1)
Another Pathetic Entry into the Reality Cop Show Genre
Mar 31, 2009
Police, Camera, Action!, Police Stop!, Road Wars, Street Crime UK, and so on. There’s always been a television interest in following police during their day to day work just to see if it’s as exciting as members of the public imagine it to be. But as they became increasingly dull new gimmicks need to be created to keep them fresh. Cops with Cameras is the latest of these string of programmes, with the added element of “front line” images captured by officers.
Cops with Cameras add very little
As ever with reality cop documentaries based in Britain it was hardly the most tense hour of TV as forces around the country, in places such as Kent and Manchester, raided homes for small drug seizures and chased a man for kicking a police car. A drug raid at a house in Wales ended quickly as the suspect was simply sitting on his couch when they burst in and one five minute section featured boat police stopping a man for speeding on a jet ski.
Although the police mounted shoulder cameras are a novel idea they offer little to proceedings and not very immersive, as part of the screen is usually blocked by the cop’s face or is at an angle that doesn’t reveal too much into what they are doing. Then again it’s not like the officers should be bothered considering that they’re too busy trying to do their job.
Because crime prevention and enforcement isn’t based on a fixed rota, except for the raids, anything or nothing can happen meaning that even the most mundane of crimes or minor incidents are blown out of proportion just so the programme makers have something to fill up an hour. They had to play up a confrontation in Torquay where a stand-off with a drunk man forced a PC to draw his Taser stun gun - which importantly he didn't use.
Not as Dramatic or insightful as COPS
All of the world’s scariest, funniest, best car chases from hell type shows made in the UK never turn out to be as dramatic or insightful as the American counterparts, like COPS. The closest Cops with Cameras got to this was at the end when a Tactical Aid Unit was called out to Bury as support to stop rival football fans from fighting but even then it was bordering on boring.
Then again the upside is that it’s reassuring to know that crime in the UK isn’t as extreme as the US but that doesn’t mean a one-hour weekly reality documentary should be broadcast to prove it. If Cops with Cameras was half the length perhaps it could be more tolerable but ultimately it doesn’t do anything new or interesting enough to justify its existence other than be another programme of police officers chasing a group of pixels and blurs around suburbs.
Cops with Cameras not as bad as The Bill
Maybe it would be an improvement if the narration, by Echo Beach and The Full Monty star Hugo Speer, was used less or like COPS was just removed entirely to allow the action and the police the speak for themselves. However, given that most of the crimes are either drug or drink related slurred, partially bleeped speech doesn’t make the best TV viewing.
But regardless of its shortcomings the producers of Cops with Cameras can be relieved knowing that at least their show isn’t as bad as The Bill. Then again dunking your head in flesh-burning acid is better than The Bill.
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