The Reality Behind Police Work: Beyond Cop Shows

The iconic former cop-turned-actor Dennis Farina once remarked that the sitcom Barney Miller was the most realistic of all police TV shows with its emphasis on police officers spending much of their time completing paperwork in the squad room. Is Farina correct?

The Myth and the Reality

While Barney Miller did capture some aspects of police work, it certainly is not entirely accurate. All that you do is paperwork, it has been humorously said. An arrest will generate 2-3 hours of paperwork, followed by court, booking, and even more follow-up. This monotonous task can take up a significant portion of a police officer's day. Rewriting for supervisors, the District Attorney, and conducting interviews, especially when something in the report is unclear, can further extend the workload.

Crashing a unit is a different story, because it leads to a mountain of paperwork. Insurance, state insurance, opposing counsel depositions, OSHA interviews, lawsuits, and internal investigations can all follow. This is a daunting task that can take 3 weeks or more to complete. The frustration and the tedious nature of this work are evident, but it is often a necessary part of police work.

The Truth about Law Enforcement

Contrary to popular perception, in reality, most police officers are not desk-bound. They spend the majority of their time out on the streets, performing their investigative duties, interacting with the public, and maintaining law and order. The perception of time slows down when doing something as monotonous as writing reports, but in reality, report writing is not that bad. Just file it, go home, and repeat.

The Influence of Media and Perceptions

It is crucial to not forget that shows like Barny Miller, Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue, The Rookie, Law Order, The Wire, T.J. Hooker, Blue Bloods, LA Confidential, NCIS, CHiPs, Southland, COPS, "The Evening News", and any other depictions of law enforcement are fiction. The perception of what happens onscreen is often manipulated to fit a specific narrative, making it a far cry from reality.

Cherry-picked sound bites and selected B-roll create a context that can convey a message opposite of or entirely different from the actual event. Videos on social media, including YouTube, depicting "unfavorable interactions with police" often lack the entire context of the event. These videos should be considered particularly questionable, especially if they are posted on biased channels. The only form of video that has the best chance of accurately reflecting an event is one that captures the entire event without cuts and unedited.

Even then, any trained Video Forensics Technician will tell you that there are characteristics in how things are recorded, exported, converted, and played back that can convey the event inaccurately. With the rise of powerful "Deep Fake" technology, it is imperative to verify any content shown on a screen or played through a speaker as authentic to the real world.

That being said, I have been a Police Officer for over 28 years, specializing in cybercrime and digital forensics. In my experience, although there are some assignments that involve sitting at a desk, and different officers have distinctive personalities with humorous situations, the majority of the work involves paperwork. This means that while "Barney Miller" captures some aspects of police work accurately, it is not an entirely representative portrayal of the job.

It is important to note that a viewer's perception of an event is not a witness to the event. Whenever a recording is presented as evidence in a Court of Law, it always requires people to sit at the witness stand to testify to the source, handling, accuracy, and authenticity of the recording.