REALITY T.V. COP SHOWS AND THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR

Fictional television shows about police and policing have been a staple part of the home visual entertainment diet since T.V. became the country`s prime means of information and communication. From “Dixon of Dock Green” over half a century ago through “Z Cars” in the 1960s via “The Bill” and “Prime Suspect” our fascination with the genre is unending. Combine that fascination with the techniques of fly on the wall reporting and we have "Forced Marriage Cops". It follows other similar see it as it happens reportage of police involving motorway patrols, city crime cars, police in helicopters, police in boats, police, police, police. One common thread in all these is the supposed control by the programme makers of the final edit. Whether or not payments are made to whom or for what amounts of cash I am not privy but constabularies and their police authorities have sanctioned this warts and all approach and so must believe it is to their advantage that the public has a supposedly unexpurgated picture of what their police forces must put up with in the course of their often dangerous and unpleasant duties. So what happens when some of the uniformed participants act in such a manner that critics, some in their armchairs some more knowledgeable, believe that their officers behaved unprofessionally? Perhaps those who make cheap programmes involving out takes might find the cutting room floors of the involved production companies a source of rich material.  Whether such images would reach our screens is another matter.