A&E programLive PD rides along with Streetsboro police
Streetsboro STREETSBORO—
City Police Chief Darin Powers knows that people can get a skewed impression of law enforcement through the national media.
That’s why he agreed to allow television cameras to ride along with his officers for the A&E showLive PD, a programthat follows police fromaround the country live — in honesty, there’s a little time delay — on Friday and Saturday nights.
“I hope the public can see that our officers are professional,” Powers said Thursday. “They treat people with respect, and they do their job in a professional manner day in and day out.”
Season two of Live PD began Friday, with Streetsboro police making their debut Saturday. The show will follow Streetsboro throughout the season.
The program, produced by Big Fish Entertainment, accompanies law enforcement in different communities around the U.S. at the same time.
From a studio, host Dan Abrams and analyst Tom Morris Jr. check in on different departments over a three-hour period from 9 p.m. to midnight.
“We want to take everyone in America on a ridealong,” Big Fish Entertainment president Dan Cesareo said about the premise of the show. “That is the access that the programdelivers.”
Producers approach the showas a documentary, capturing real-life interactions between law enforcement and the community. That could involve everything froma suspect running from authorities to a drug raid.
“You’re not being served up this little edited bit with amusic track underneath it telling you how you should think and feel,” Cesareo said. “We approach it as we’re documenting what’s happening.”
He said producers chose Streetsboro, a community of more than 16,200 people in Portage County, because there is a lot of pass-through traffic. The Ohio Turnpike slices through the city.
The program also features a range ofcommunities from rural to urban areas andEast Coast to Midwest to West Coast.
Streetsboro, which isn’t being paid for participating, is hardly a hotbed for violent crime.
Officers often are dealing with traffic violations, including drunken driving, alongwith some thefts on a typicalweekend night, Powers said.
The chief was unfamiliar with the show before being contacted about participating. He watched the program and said he enjoyed the transparency.
He added that producers have not asked police to do anything special for the program.
“We aren’t going tochange upwhatwe do just because we have a camera crewwith us,” Powers said.
The chief said he won’t be featured.
Separate camera crews will follow officer Chris Petro, who has been with the department for 22 years, and officer Art Milner, who has been with the city for more than five.
In addition to Streetsboro, other departments highlighted include the Richland County (S.C.) Sheriff’sOffice, Jeffersonville (Ind.) Police Department, Utah Department of Public Safety, Spokane County (Wash.) Sheriff’s Office and Lake County (Ill.) Sheriff’s Office.
A&E touts Live PD as the top unscripted programthis summeroncable with adults 25-54. The network said season one premieres of the show averaged 1.6 million total viewers.