After being canceled in the wake of George Floyd’s May 25 death and resultant anti-police backlash, production has resumed on the hit TV show “COPS.”
Back on: In a press release issued Wednesday, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department two “COPS” film crews began riding with deputies in September and will continue doing so through the first week of November.
- “Shows like COPS highlight the work of law enforcement. They show, even for a few minutes, what the men and women out protecting our communities deal with day in and day out,” Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said in a statement.
- “People need to see how quickly things can turn, the decisions that need to be made quickly, and how well Deputies and Officers adjust and respond appropriately,” Knezovich added.
- “They show the hard work and professionalism of law enforcement, despite what some anti-law enforcement activists and those in the media want you to believe.”
A spokesperson for Langley Productions, the production company behind the show, told the Hollywood Reporter that new episodes will only air in international markets and will not be shown in the United States.
The reaction: Many police reform advocates were upset by the news that “COPS” would be returning to TV.
Blogger Zack Linly, writing in The Root in response to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department’s announcement, called “COPS” a “a bullsh*t spin on policing in the U.S..”
Anti-cop activists on Twitter were similarly distressed.
“I was literally saying yesterday how I’m glad they had taken this off the air, well that was short lived, this show needs to be cancelled,” tweeted one commenter.
Canceled: Paramount Network canceled “COPS” in early June, amid a wave of anti-police backlash sparked by the death of Floyd and racial justice protests such as Black Lives Matter.
- “Live PD,” another reality TV show about law enforcement, was also canceled around the same time.
