Policing on prime-time: A comparison of television and real-world policing

POLICING ON PRIME-TIME: A Comparison of Television and Real-World Policing

DANIELLE M. SOULLIERE1- University of Windsor

ABSTRACT: This paper provides an investigation of presentations of police and policing activities in two purposively selected contemporary prime-time entertainment justice shows and one reality-based justice show. With the exception of being portrayed as overly successful, television police were portrayed closely to real-life police in terms of their gender, racial composition, organization, tasks, role, and response to crime. As such, prime-time television may aid viewers in better understanding the role of police in American society by providing a basic orientation to police and police work through its mediated presentations. Further research is needed involving a more encompassing sample of prime-time justice shows for more generalizable conclusions to be asserted.

INTRODUCTION Television has long been fascinated with crime and policing with a

long legacy of "cop shows" flourishing on prime-time entertainment television. Indeed, law enforcement has dominated justice program themes for the past four decades with such diverse police programs as Hawaii Five-O, The Rockford Files, Starsky and Hutch, Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, Cagney and Lacy, CHIPS, T. J. Hooker, and In The Heat of the Night. Contemporary cop shows include Nash Bridges, Walker: Texas Ranger, Martial Law, and NYPD Blue. Lest we think that such police shows are losing popular appeal, viewers have wit- nessed the addition of several new law enforcement-type programs over the past couple of years, including the popular CSI: Crime Scene Investi- gation. In addition, so-called reality television has jumped on the law enforcement bandwagon, creating several police-based shows such as the long-running COPS, Stories of the Highway Patrol, and Arrest and Trial. Given the importance of law enforcement to entertainment television, it is instructive to understand how police are portrayed and to explore the implications that such portrayals may have on viewing audi- ence perceptions of police and policing in American society.

t Direct all correspondence to Danielle M. Soulliere, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue, Windsor, Ontario, Canada N9B 3P4. Email: [email protected].

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, gol. 28 No. 2, 2004 �9 2004 Southern Criminal Justice Association

216 POLICING ON PRIME-TIME

It has generally been argued that television serves as an important source of information about crime and criminal justice (Gebotys, Rob- erts, & DasGupta, 1988), especially television news broadcasts (Broadhurst & Indermaur, 1982; Graber, 1980; Warr, 1995). Television dramas, especially those depicting crime and criminal justice activities, also may be an important influence in providing viewers with information about the criminal justice process (Bennack, 1983), including police and policing activities. Such television depictions may not always prove to be accurate portrayals and may generate false beliefs or perpetuate myths concerning the nature of police and the way in which they carry out their duties. Since prime-time portrayals may influence viewer understanding of police, it is prudent to investigate the way in which police and policing activities are depicted on prime-time television and compare these presentations to real-life police and policing activities to determine the extent to which such portrayals may be distorted and to discuss the potential implications of any distortions.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Media coverage of the criminal justice process is rather uneven with an emphasis on the initial stages of criminal justice. According to Hans (1990), an emphasis upon police and law enforcement activities is evident in both news and entertainment media. Sacco and Fair (1992) contend that apprehension and arrest of offenders appears to be cov- ered more often in the media than prosecution and punishment of offenders, with police activities more prominently displayed than court or correctional activities. While television entertainment programs have made occasional forays into the court process and prisons (such programs include L.A. Law, Law and Order, Ally McBeal, The Practice, and OZ), the predominant theme for many prime-time series has been law enforcement.

Media portrayals of police and other law enforcement officials are often overdramatized. Alderson (1982), for example, calls attention to the cozy, romantic view of police frequently presented in fictional dramas while Reiner (1985) points to the overdramatized, heroic profes- sionalism of police cast both by the news and entertainment media. As presented by the media, the activities of police officers are anything but mundane; they chase criminals, pose undercover, head important investigations, and solve crimes in Sherlock Holmes' fashion. These portrayals mask the reality of most police work. As Kappeler, Blumberg, and Potter (1993) report, only about 10% to 20% of officers' time is spent "fighting crime;" the remainder is spent directing traffic, responding to traffic accidents, writing reports, and completing other mundane tasks.

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Thus, rather than primarily proactive in their activities, as the media suggests, police officers are primarily reactive (Griffiths & Verdun- Jones, 1994; Reiss, 1967; Sykes & Brent, 1983).

As well, media coverage of police and policing activities tends to be overwhelmingly pro-police and deceptively positive (Fishman, 1999; Graber, 1980; Kooistra, Mahoney, & Westervelt, 1998; Oliver, 1994). In both news and entertainment media, police are depicted as effective crime solvers. To be sure, most suspects on television crime programs are successfully caught (Carlson, 1985; Dominick, 1973; Estep & Mac- Donald, 1984; Zillmann & Wakslag, 1987). Dominick (1973), for example, reports that over 90% of crimes on television are solved by the police. Likewise, Oliver (1994) contends that reality-based crime shows frequently exaggerate police competency by overrepresenting the proportion of crime solved by the police. As well, by analyzing the reality- based police show COPS, Kooistra and colleagues (1998) found that almost three-quarters of the crimes portrayed ended in arrest, a clearance rate that would no doubt be envied by police departments around the country. Zillmann and Wakslag (1987) further point out that it is common for television crime dramas to emphasize "justice" in their outcomes, with many shows highlighting a dominant law and order theme (Donovan, 1998; Doyle, 1998; Fishman, 1999) in which the good guys (police) necessarily prevail against the bad guys (criminals).

Overall, few content analyses have been conducted on prime-time entertainment portrayals of police and policing activities (see Carlson, 1985; Dominick, 1973; Estep & MacDonald, 1984; Lichter & Lichter, 1983) and many of these analyses are clearly outdated. More recent analyses of reality-based policing have been undertaken (see Doyle, 1998; Kooistra et al., 1998; Oliver, 1994). Since contemporary television has arguably become more sophisticated (Selby & Cowdery, 1995), it is expected that prime-time policing presentations, though still showing some distortions, will be closer to real-life portrayals than previous analyses have revealed.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE The current study presents findings relating to the portrayal of po-

lice and police work by two purposively selected prime-time entertainment-based justice programs and one reality-based justice show. The study focuses on the characteristics of prime-time police and compares these characteristics to the gender and racial composition of real-life police organizations in the United States, especially the New York City Police Department. The ways in which law enforcement personnel are portrayed by television in terms of their organization and specialization,


general response and role, tasks and activities, and success are also ex- plored and compared to official statistics and research reports in an ef- fort to determine how closely television portrayals match real-life police. The implications of these portrayals in terms of overall viewer understanding and policy initiatives are then discussed.

METHODS

The current analysis is an outgrowth of a more encompassing research project which examined depictions of crime and criminal justice on prime-time entertainment television. Three prime-time entertainment television justice shows were purposively selected for the original analysis - Law and Order, The Practice, and N Y P D Blue - based on popularity, critical acclimation, and particular program inclusion criteria. These programs fell within the top 20 prime-time programs for the season as ranked by Nielsen Media Research (2000) with N Y P D ranked number 9, Law and Order ranked number 15, and The Practice ranked number 17. Each of these programs have been recipients of multiple awards including Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series.

The inclusion criteria specified "prime-time" as encompassing the time period between 8:00 p. m. and 11:00 p. m. Eastern Time, "justice programs" (sometimes called police dramas, crime dramas, legal shows, or lawyer shows) as half-hour or one-hour television programs that focus on some aspect of the criminal justice system such as law enforcement, criminal prosecution, courts, or corrections, and "entertainment- based" as comprising justice programs that depict fictional characters and events. For comparative purposes, one reality-based television justice program (a program that portrays real-life characters and actual events) - COPS - was chosen. COPS is the oldest, most popular, most frequently aired, and best-known of the reality cop shows (Coe, 1996; Kooistra et al., 1998). Time and budget constraints restricted the analyses to a one-year season only. The researcher chose the 1999 - 2000 television season as representing the broadcast year that corresponded to the start of the original research project.

N Y P D Blue and Law and Order were the primary entertainment- based sources of data concerning police and policing activities and therefore constituted the focus of this analysis. Both N Y P D Blue and Law and Order provide fictionalized depictions of the New York City Police Department. Where appropriate, then, comparisons were made to the real-life police department of New York City, along with comparisons to law enforcement agencies in general. The reality-based COPS depicts police and policing activities across a range of law enforcement

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agencies in the United States and therefore offers a more general pic- ture of policing.

A total of 43 episodes of the entertainment-based justice programs were analyzed: 23 Law and Order episodes (comprising episodes #206 to #229) and 20 NYPD Blue episodes (comprising episodes #133 to #154). For comparison purposes, 12 episodes of COPS were recorded and analyzed. Since each half-hour episode of COPS generally contains three separate incidents in which law enforcement officers are involved, it was felt that 12 episodes would suffice for comparison.

Primary data consisted of videotaped episodes of the three justice programs which provided both visual images and verbal text. Full and partial transcripts were also created from these episodes and housed in case files for reference which corresponded to the episode number. The videotaped episodes and transcripts were used to make sense of the episode content and to develop general content categories for which further data were collected. An important part of any content analysis is the development of general content categories (Berg, 1995; Rifle, Lacy, & Fico, 1998) using both inductive and deductive processes (Strauss, 1987). On the basis of previous content analyses of justice programs, initial content categories were developed (deductive) and then modified according to the episode transcripts and images (inductive). The resulting content categories for which data were collected for this part of the study included gender and racial composition of law enforcement officers and characters, police organization and specialization, police response to crime and role, policing tasks and activities, and police SUCCESS.

Once the major content categories were established, a set of guidelines were developed to facilitate coding of data for the major content categories. Guidelines consisted of definitions used to identify particular content, attribute categories composing the particular content vari- ables, and clues or indicators to assist the researcher in assigning content to appropriate attribute categories. These coding guidelines not only facilitated the data collection process, but ensured that content was coded consistently across episodes and across justice programs.

The use of carefully constructed coding guidelines was necessary to overcome the limitations of having a single coder and to maintain content validity and reliability. The videotaped episodes allowed the researcher to review the original data whenever coding problems or issues arose. Attempts also were made to triangulate data and methods with the researcher relying on multiple clues for coding content. For example, both visual and text clues were often used to assign content to the appropriate categories. It was felt that such triangulation would con- tribute to both reliability and validity of the research data and findings.


Appropriate descriptive statistics were generated for quantitative data and, where appropriate, were supplemented with qualitative de- scriptions to provide examples of key content categories. Comparative analyses were also undertaken using existing statistics and previous research findings. Presentations of police and policing activities in the two entertainment-based justice programs and the reality-based C O P S were compared with the portrayals of police and policing activities revealed by official statistics and appropriate research literature.

RESULTS

Gender and Racial Composition of Police Officers Police officer characters were observed and counted according to

gender and race for each of the episodes of the enter ta inment justice programs. A total of 255 police officer characters were observed on L a w and Order while 113 police officer characters were observed on N Y P D Blue. As demonstrated in Table l , in terms of gender and race, prime-time entertainment television portrays police officers as primarily male and White.

TABLE 1 Gender and Racial Composition of Police Characters on Law and Order, NYPD Blue, and COPS (1999 - 2000 Season)

Law and N Y P D COPS Total Order

n % n % n % n %

Gender: Male 225 88 103 91 136 89 464 89 Female 30 12 10 9 17 11 57 11 Total 255 100 113 100 113 100 521 100

Race: White 197 77 85 75 130 85 412 79 Black 55 22 25 22 19 13 99 19 Other 3 1 3 3 4 3 10 2 *Total 255 100 113 100 153 101 521 t00

* Totals over 100% are due to rounding.

Clearly, male police officer characters outnumbered female police officer characters 7 to 1 on L a w and Order and 10 to 1 on N Y P D Blue.

As well, White police officer characters outnumbered Black and other minority police officer characters 3 to 1 on both L a w and Order and N Y P D Blue. These findings support the real-life observation that polic-

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ing is primarily a White male profession (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1999; Grana & Ollenburger, 1999). Data collected for local police departments in large U.S. cities reveal that females represented only 16.3% of all full-time sworn personnel in 2000, while racial and ethnic minorities represented about 38% (Reaves & Hickman, 2002). For New York City, which operates the largest local police department in the U.S. with more than 40,000 members (Reaves & Hickman, 2002), gender and racial composition reflects the data for all large cities. Melone (2001), for example, reports that women represented about 23% of the officers on the NYPD force in 2000, while Levitt (2002) reports that slightly more than one-third of NYPD officers are racial or ethnic minorities, with Hispanics representing 20%, African-Americans representing 14%, and Asians representing 2%. While viewers may be surprised by the lack of female and minority police officer characters shown on their favorite justice programs, the portrayal of primarily White male police officers is consistent with the composition of most law enforcement agencies in the United States, including the New York City Police Department.

There were 153 police officers observed on the reality-based COPS. The gender and racial composition of the officers again support the image of policing as a White male profession, with male police of- ricers outnumbering female police officers 8 to 1 and White police of- ricers outnumbering minority police officers 6 to 1. A little more racial diversity was shown in the Indianapolis Police Department where one- quarter of the police officers depicted in the COPS episodes were Black and in the Riviera Beach Police Department where one-third of the police officers depicted were Black. As well, gender diversity was more prevalent in the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office where 15% of the police officers depicted in the COPS episodes were female and in the Indianapolis Police Department where 14% of the police officers depicted were female.

In sum, as far as gender and racial composition of police officers is concerned, both the entertainment-based justice programs and the reality-based COPS stayed true in their portrayals to the real-life composition of most law enforcement agencies in the United States. Based on these portrayals, viewers of such programs should not be surprised to find mostly White male police officers in their own municipal, county, or state police departments.

Police Organization and Specialization According to Reaves and Goldberg (1998), about 70% of full-time

sworn local police personnel in the United States are uniformed officers


on patrol or otherwise regularly assigned to respond to calls for service; only 16% of police personnel perform investigative duties and the remainder are assigned to specialty divisions such as Internal Affairs. It is clear from both Law and Order and NYPD Blue that police personnel are specialized in their duties and that police departments like the New York City Police Department are comprised of several specialty units. The detectives on both Law and Order and NYPD Blue perform investigative tasks, but frequently work in concert with fellow patrol officers who may originally respond to a crime. It is also apparent that the detectives work in a police agency environment with a network of specialty units. For example, on Law and Order, there was frequent men- tion of the Crime Scene Unit, Latent Print Identification, Patrol Services, and Gang and Homicide Units. On NYPD Blue, several speciality units were mentioned including the Organized Crime Control Bu- reau (OCCB), the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), the Internal Affairs Bureau (lAB), the Latent Print Unit, the Crime Scene Unit, the Bias Unit, the Narcotics Division, Anti-Crime, Ballistics, and Intelli- gence. The specialty units referred to in these fictional programs mirror the speciality units found in the real-life New York City Police Department.

Patrol officers and investigating detectives on Law and Order and NYPD Blue were also aided by support personnel that frequently form the backbone of real-life policing (Griffiths, Whitelaw, & Parent, 1999; Nickell & Fischer, 1999). In several episodes of Law and Order, the detectives were assisted by members of the Crime Scene Unit who collected physical evidence at the scene of the crime (every case); a variety of forensic technicians who analyzed physical and biological evidence such as blood, hair, semen, skin tissue, fibers, tobacco residue (#215), and bite patterns (#209); the Medical Examiner (depicted in most episodes) who examined the victim's body at the scene of the crime and in the laboratory to determine the time and cause of death and prepared a toxicology report indicating whether alcohol/drugs were found in the victim's body; and, technicians in the Latent Print Identification Unit involved in analyzing fingerprints found at the scene of the crime (#207, #210, #211, #213, #215, #216). The detectives were further aided by specialized forensic technicians in the ballistics lab who engaged in firearms identification by examining casings and bullets (#206, #208, #211, #213, #218), experts who analyzed handwriting samples (#224), and forensic accountants who analyzed financial records linked to crime (#213). Moreover, the detectives often made use of personnel in communications who traced 911 calls (#207) and police dispatch records (#222), in records who provided criminal histories for suspects (#226),

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and composite sketch artists who prepared sketches of suspects for identification (#219).

Similar support personnel assisted the detectives on NYPD Blue, although it was more often the case that such support personnel were referred to rather than visually depicted as they tended to be in the episodes of Law and Order The detectives frequently mentioned a Crime Scene Unit who apparently collected forensic evidence at the scene of the crime, which was analyzed by technicians in the Police Crime Laboratory. They also alluded to Latent Prints which was re- sponsible for analyzing fingerprints found at the scene; case #137 actually depicted a latent print identification officer, Preston Ross, who met with Detectives Sipowicz and Sorenson to unravel the identification of a suspect from several superimposed fingerprints found on the murder weapon. In addition, the detectives mentioned assistance from Ballis- tics which identified firearms used in the commission of crimes, Bureau of Criminal Investigation which provided the detectives with suspect "rap sheets," communications which traced phone calls made to the police, and other specialized support personnel from Anti-Crime, Bias, Organized Crime Control, and Intelligence. Of course, the detectives at the 15th Precinct are aided day-to-day by Police Administrative Aide, John Irvin, who performs a number of clerical tasks for Lieutenant Fancy and his detectives.

Depictions and references to support personnel on Law and Order and NYPD Blue reinforce the image among viewers that police officers do not work in a vacuum. Rather, they are aided by a number of people who perform specialized tasks that allow police officers to catch suspects and solve crimes. To be sure, real-life police officers must rely on a variety of support personnel in order to carry out their day-to-day policing functions. Thus, depictions and references to police support personnel in these entertainment-based justice programs demonstrate the attempt by contemporary justice shows to portray a fairly realistic policing environment. Since most policing was shown in its initial patrol stages on COPS, there were few depictions of support personnel aside from paramedics and the occasional crime scene technicians who took photographs of the scene. As a result, viewers of the reality-based program are likely unable to appreciate the full nature of real-life policing which relies on support from a variety of sources.

Police Response to Crime and Overall Role

Police response to crime is reactive and proactive. Generally, police officers respond to calls for assistance from members of the public (reactive), but they also sometimes actively seek out crime (proactive).


To understand how police are portrayed in entertainment-based justice shows in their response to crime, police response was noted and catego- rized for both murder and other criminal incidents for each of the justice programs. Reactive responses included criminal incidents that were reported by victims or witnesses who called 911 or filed a report with the police. Proactive responses consisted of crimes that were discovered through routine patrol, through the investigation of another crime, or by way of an active sting operation.

Police response to the fictionalized criminal incidents supports the research literature that finds that most policing is reactive (Griffiths & Verdun-Jones, 1994; Regoli & Hewitt, 1996; Reiss, 1967; Sykes & Brent, 1983; Walker, 1991). Indeed, almost 70% of the murder incidents on Law and Order were brought to the attention of the police through a 911 call or a report to the police. Interestingly, a little more than 70% of the other criminal incidents were the result of police investigating another crime; however, in most cases, these criminal incidents were sec- ondary to the primary murder incident, which was originally brought to police attention. In addition, 76% of the murders on N Y P D Blue were brought to the attention of the police through a report or a 911 call. As well, 67% of the other crimes depicted on NYPD Blue were also brought to the attention of the police. Overall, policing is portrayed as primarily reactive in the entertainment-based justice programs, similar to the reactive style of policing found in the real world.

Regoli and Hewitt (1996) contend that about 75% of all serious crimes are discovery crimes, completed crimes discovered after the offender has left the scene. In all criminal incidents depicted on Law and Order and N Y P D Blue, the offender or offenders had left the scene before the police arrived and therefore police had to identify and locate the offender. Obviously, this situation has much to do with the dramatic intent of the entertainment-based justice programs in which the identification and location of the suspect is a necessary part of each episode plot. Nevertheless, such a situation corresponds to the experiences of many real-life police officers when responding to crime.

Policing was also depicted as primarily reactive on the reality- based COPS. In the episodes analyzed, 76% of the criminal incidents were brought to the attention of the police through a report or a 911 call. Interestingly, 17% of the criminal incidents were discovered through routine patrol such as a traffic stop and 7% of the criminal incidents were discovered through the distinctly proactive efforts of the police. Such proactive policing occurred mainly through "sting operations" which focused on setting up prospective "johns" by using an undercover officer who posed as a prostitute, and supporting the contention by Goldstein (1993) that policing is becoming more proac-

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tive. Contrary to the entertainment-based justice programs, in most cases, suspects or offenders were frequently found at or near the scene when the police arrived which does not support Regoli and Hewitt's (1996) contention that most crimes are discovery crimes. It must be kept in mind, however, that Regoli and Hewitt applied this idea to serious crimes, such as murder, and most of the criminal incidents on COPS were relatively non-serious. As well, the ease with which suspects/offenders were located by police may also be a consequence of decisions made by the producers to air episodes in which police were able to interact with suspects or offenders.

Moreover, COPS allowed for an understanding of the types of calls to which police officers are often asked to respond. For example, patrol officers were often asked to provide assistance to other specialized of- ricers such as narcotics detectives who were apprehending a suspect and, in at least three incidents, police officers were asked to provide assistance in non-criminal incidents. In one case, two Martin County deputies were dispatched to catch a baby alligator that had wandered onto a resident's property; a Virginia Beach police officer provided assistance to residents during a hurricane; and an Indianapolis police of- ricer responded to the scene of a non-fatal accident. These assistance calls highlight the nature of real-life policing in which police officers are frequently involved in assistance and order maintenance activities in addition to their crime-fighting duties (Ericson, 1982; Griffiths & Verdun- Jones, 1994; Reiss, 1967; Shearing, 1984). In contrast, the police officer characters on the entertainment-based justice programs were portrayed mainly as crime righters in primarily law enforcement roles.

Policing Tasks and Activities Since the majority of people are not likely to come into personal

contact with police, most of them will inevitably get their ideas of what police officers do during a normal day's work from reading about police activities in the newspapers and magazines and seeing depictions of police on television and in the movies (Dunham & Alpert, 1997). Previous analyses of cop shows have emphasized the distorted image of police work, which often depicts policing as an action-packed adventure involving shoot-outs, violent confrontations with dangerous criminals, and high-speed vehicle chases (Dunham & Alpert, 1997; McElrath, 1997; Reiner, 1985). While this may be the stuff of some police dramas, research findings suggest that the active pursuit of criminals is a small proportion of all law enforcement activities (Christensen, Schmidt, & Henderson, 1982; Grana & Ollenburger, 1999; Kappeler, Blumberg, & Potter, 1993) with a considerable amount of time spent interviewing witnesses and suspects (Rowland & Bailey, 1999) and completing


paperwork (Dunham & Alpert, 1997; Grana & Ollenburger, 1999; Mc- Elrath, 1997).

Portrayals of police engaged in policing tasks on the entertainment-based justice programs analyzed did not support the action- packed image usually found on prime-time television. Rather, police officer characters were shown performing a variety of tasks that did not necessarily involve a high degree of action or excitement. For example, uniformed police officer characters were involved in routine patrol activities, managing crime scenes, and providing guardianship for house searches or victims' safety. Detective characters were typically involved in analyzing the crime scene, canvassing the area for witnesses, and interviewing witnesses, all tasks involved in investigating a crime. Detec- tive characters were also shown executing searches and arrests as well as interrogating suspects. In addition, detective characters were depicted as performing a number of administrative tasks involving the collection of evidence such as arranging police line-ups, checking suspect alibis, analyzing phone, financial, or video records, and consulting with forensic technicians about physical evidence. Furthermore, on a few oc- casions, detective characters on both Law and Order and NYPD Blue were shown completing criminal incident reports referred to as "DD5s" on Law and Order and "fives" on NYPD Blue. Rarely were police characters depicted as being involved in car chases or foot pursuits, shoot- outs, or the firing of police weapons. In fact, there were no high-speed vehicle chases shown in any of the episodes of Law and Order or NYPD Blue; there were only two incidents in which police officers were involved in some kind of a shoot-out (#216 and #73) and practically no incidents in which a police officer character was shown actually firing his or her weapon.

Interestingly, policing was depicted as more exciting on the reality- based COPS. Police officers were shown chasing suspects on foot and in cars, interviewing witnesses and suspects at the scene, subduing and arresting suspects, searching areas for evidence, and "taking down" suspects in sting operations. While COPS officers occasionally drew their weapons, there were no incidents in which officers actually fired their weapons. This corresponds to Alpert and Dunham's (1994) finding that police officers fire their weapons infrequently. Police officers were also shown assisting injured victims, helping victims/complainants fill out sworn witness statements, and explaining criminal charges to suspects, thereby, emphasizing the service and order maintenance role of policing (Dunham & Alpert, 1997).

In sum, far from the action-packed nature of policing expected from entertainment television, the analysis of Law and Order and N YPD Blue revealed policing to be rather ordinary and mundane, de-

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picting tasks similar to those engaged in by real-life police officers. To some degree, policing activities on COPS were depicted as somewhat more exciting with emphasis on chases and the physical restraint of suspects, which may serve to enhance the dramatic appeal of the show, but also may distort the real nature of policing. Nevertheless, the rather ordinary tasks of police, such as assisting citizens and interviewing witnesses, were also depicted on COPS to counteract the show's natural bias toward action.

Both Vincent (1990) and Dunham and Alpert (1997) caution against the action-centered nature of policing depicted on most entertainment-based crime shows. They contend that, for those who as- pire to become law enforcement officers, the job description presented by television will inevitably be more exciting than real-life policing. As well, practicing law enforcers will discover a career that will inevitably fail to meet the expectations and promises of television police portraits. As Vincent (1990) contends:

In any week there are at least six police-related [television] programs available to its citizens. These are an additional source of role models for the budding police officer. Since, in a sense, today's rookie is a product of the television era in which police programs became popular, he may have built up in his own mind a distorted image of what real police work is like. To the degree that he was, and continues to be affected by these unreal, glamorized television versions of role models, to that same degree he may mistakenly try to imitate them (pp. 62-63).

Similarly, Dunham and Alpert (1997) argue that if potential recruits are interested in police work mainly for the television crime- fighter image and envision themselves spending most of their time apprehending and arresting dangerous criminals, they will be greatly dis- appointed when they finally get the job. While it may be true that fans of some police dramas or even COPS may develop a distorted view of policing and may have an unrealistic view of the nature of policing, it would seem that regular viewers of such entertainment-based justice programs as Law and Order and NYPD Blue will likely come away with a fairly good idea of what policing actually entails. These contemporary justice programs may help to educate viewers as to the real nature of police work and help to counteract some of the distorted images found in other current and previous police shows.


Police Success

As found in previous studies (see Carlson, 1985; Dominick, 1973; Estep & MacDonald, 1984; Zillmann & Wakslag, 1987), the police in the entertainment-based justice programs and in the reality-based COPS were shown as overwhelmingly successful in their law enforcement pursuits. To be sure, every case investigated by Detectives Briscoe and Green in the 23 Law and Order episodes resulted in the arrest of a suspect and, in all but one case (#147A), criminal incidents were cleared by arrest or other circumstances by the investigating detectives in the 20 episodes of NYPD Blue. As well, in the majority of criminal incidents depicted in the 12 episodes of COPS, at least one suspect was arrested and charged or a warrant issued for his or her arrest.

This image of police as effective and efficient crime solvers is not supported by the relatively low clearance rates confirmed by official statistics. According to the 1998 Uniform Crime Reports (Federal Bu- reau of Investigation, 1999), the clearance rates for the index crimes, on average, were at 21%; however, it must be noted that clearance rates tend to be much higher for murder (Zawitz & Fox, 2000), hovering closer to 70% (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1999). Since the majority of criminal investigations on Law and Order and NYPD Blue related to murder, the overall success of the detective characters has some basis in real-life clearance rates, although their success is still somewhat exag- gerated. Of course, there would be no second part to Law and Order if Detectives Briscoe and Green were unable to catch a suspect and NYPD Blue would be rather dull if suspects continually evaded the police. Unlike the entertainment-based justice programs, the success of police officers on COPS can be explained by the fact that most suspects were arrested for criminal incidents that required little investigation, such as drug violations discovered during a routine traffic stop, and most suspects were found immediately at or near the scene so determin- ing their identity and location did not require significant police energy.

Although entertainment-based justice programs have become more in sync with real life, the image of police on prime-time television as overwhelmingly successful in solving crimes continues to distort reality in which many crimes are not cleared. This distortion may foster unrealistic expectations among members of the public and victims of crime who may come to expect police to easily solve crimes and quickly apprehend perpetrators and who may express negative opinions when police are unable to do so. Carlson (1985) contends that because television police are portrayed as being particularly effective, the public may develop unrealistic expectations concerning police performance. When reaMife police fail to deliver media-inspired services, the public may

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become dissatisfied and police-public relations may deteriorate. While this is certainly a possibility, public opinion polls in both Canada and the United States continue to reveal favorable public attitudes toward the police (Griffiths & Verdun-Jones, 1994), suggesting that media portrayals have had an overall positive, rather than negative, effect.

DISCUSSION

Overall, with the exception of being portrayed as somewhat overly successful, police characters in the entertainment-based justice shows chosen for the analysis were depicted as realistically close to real-life police in their composition, organization, tasks, role, and response to crime. Thus, both the entertainment-based justice shows and the reality-based COPS have some educative value in informing viewers about police organizations and police personnel in the United States. In particular, since many people are not likely to experience policing first- hand, contemporary prime-time television justice programs may provide viewers with a basic orientation to police and police work. Zog- lin (1992) suggests that television shows, especially reality cop shows, serve to orient viewers to police work, while Freidman (1989) maintains that cop shows have done much to demystify police work by providing images of police organization and police roles. Seeing police in both real-life and fictional settings may allow viewers to identify with police officers and the police role, increasing viewer understanding of police and police work.

Moreover, the current findings did not support prime-time policing as action-packed as previous analyses have so often revealed. This may suggest that contemporary justice shows have become more sophisticated in their presentations of criminal justice and more committed to realistic portrayals of criminal justice personnel. Interestingly, even though the focus of COPS is on law enforcement, the portrayals of policing activities were much more limited than portrayals by Law and Order and NYPD Blue. Of course, this may be reflective of the de- mands placed on editors to squeeze three policing events into a half- hour time period. COPS policing was depicted as somewhat more exciting than entertainment-based policing, involving more chases and the physical restraint of suspects, masking some of the more mundane tasks involved in policing such as taking notes and interviewing witnesses, which were more routinely shown on the entertainment-based justice shows. Again, restricted time period may be behind the more action- based COPS policing in which producers strive to keep viewer interest through action rather than through involved plots, which require more than 8 to 10 minutes to develop.


In addition, the presentation of police as successful, despite official evidence to the contrary, suggests a preoccupation with a law and order theme, promoting police officers as the protagonists in an epic battle against evil. One motive behind this may be to increase the entertainment value of the television program by provoking various emotive responses. Through storylines that depict intense, violent crime, scriptwriters can heighten arousal or fear in viewers and then later reas- sure them by projecting images of police as effective crime fighters. The promotion of a law and order ideology by television crime shows has been noted by Carlson (1985), Donovan (1998), and Doyle (1998) who suggest that it is a successful formula for creating heavily watched crime dramas. The consistently positive images of police that have been found in entertainment television suggest that the police are another group to which television executives have had to be responsive. Carlson (1985) notes, for example, that television producers often find themselves under the critical eye of representatives from police organizations who may complain that television crime shows are unrealistic or unfair in their portrayals of police. Since police officers are potential viewers themselves, more realistic presentations of police may draw this demo- graphic group to the television program as well as mollify harsh criti- cism from a relatively powerful special interest group.

The way in which police are portrayed by prime-time entertainment television also may have implications for police-public relations and policies aimed at improving these relations may need to take into account television influences. That law enforcement continues to be the subject of many prime-time television shows and that police are frequently portrayed as successful crime fighters in these shows suggests that police policies have been directed and should continue to be directed at forging positive relations with media sources. Moreover, television justice programs may serve as an informal learning environment for would-be police officers, acting as an orienting device to the world of policing. As such, police training courses need to address the potential impact of television in shaping recruits' perceptions of policing and police work.

Finally, it must be noted that the current study is not without limitations. Primarily, the research findings were based on a small, purpo- sive sample of only two prime-time entertainment-based justice shows, which were chosen and analyzed as part of a larger research project. Although the researcher presented arguments for the inclusion of these programs based on popularity and comparison criteria, as well as pointed out the necessity of a small sample because of time and re- source constraints, it is recognized that this small, non-random sample limits the generalizability of the results. The findings and conclusions

SOULLIERE 231

presented here may apply to Law and Order and NYPD Blue, but may not be generalizable to other contemporary prime-time police shows such as Nash Bridges and Walker." Texas Ranger, which may, upon analysis, reveal more distorted images of police and policing activities. It is recommended, therefore, that further research be conducted concerning prime-time policing presentations involving a more encompassing and representative sample. Furthermore, the research study did not take into account viewer characteristics which may affect the content of justice programs and might also effect the potential impact of content on perceptions and understanding. We cannot assume, for example, that the viewers of Law and Order and NYPD Blue are the same as the viewers of COPS or the viewers of programs such as Nash Bridges or Walker.

CONCLUSION In order to get at potential motives behind justice program content

and to better assess what impact these shows might have on viewers, it would be necessary to probe viewer characteristics of each of these shows. Future research, then, should explore such characteristics in the context of prime-time policing presentations and the potential impact such characteristics may have for viewer perceptions and understanding of police and police work. Furthermore, research involving a more encompassing sample of prime-time justice shows would enhance the understanding of media portrayals of police and allow for more generalizable conclusions to be asserted.

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