Newsgroups: alt.society.civil-liberty,alt.law-enforcement,talk.politics.drugs From: [lee p] at [mailhub.scf.lmsc.lockheed.com] (Lee Pollack) Subject: Re: Harper's article on "reality TV" (Like COPS) Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1993 19:56:21 GMT In article <[CG 46 Ho I 6 B] at [pofbbs.chi.il.us]> [doctor 1] at [pofbbs.chi.il.us] (Patrick B. Hailey) writes: >The November Harper's has an article called "Tales From the Cutting-Room >Floor" by Debra Seagal. Debra got herself a job as a "story analyst" for >"American Detective", one of the zillions of "reality-based" programs out >there (this one was canceled over the summer). >Internally, the "story analysts" are actually called "loggers". They go >through the hours of video tape the camera crews send in, looking for >suitable material. >Some excerpts follow: >May 18 >[ ... ] >... We are to hope for a naturally dramatic climax. But if it doesn't >happen, I understand, we'll "work one out". >May 26 >... Among other tasks, we're responsible for compiling stock-footage >books... This compendium is used to embellish stories when certain images or >sounds have not been picked up... ...[most] frequently, the shouts of the cops >on a raid ("POLICE! Open the door! Now!") in an otherwise unexciting ramrod >affair. Evidently the "reality" of a given episode is subject to enhancement. >... Searching for the scraps of usable footage was like combing a beach for >a lost contact lens. The actual bust - a sad affair that featured an >accountant getting arrested for buying pot in an empty shoe-store parking >lot - was perhaps 1 percent of everything I watched. >June 10 >... While an undercover pal negotiates with a drug dealer across the >street, the three detectives survey an unsuspecting woman from behind their >van's tinted windows. It begins like this: > [Interior of van. Mid-range shot of Commander Brooks, Special Agent > Gravitt, and Detective Cooper] > COOPER: Check out those volumptuous [sic] breasts and that vulumptuous > [sic] ass. > BROOKS: Think she takes it in the butt? > COOPER: Yep. It sticks out just enough so you can pull the cheeks > apart and really plummet it. [Long pause] I believe she's not beyond > fellatio either. > [Zoom to close-up of Cooper] > COOPER: You don't have true domination over a woman until you can spit > on 'em and they don't say nothing. > [Zoom to close-up of Gravitt] > GRAVITT: I know a hooker who will let you spit on her for twenty > bucks...[Direct appeal to camera] Can one of you guys edit this thing and > make a big lump in my pants for me? > [ ... ] >June 15 > [ ... ] > ... Within a few weeks the finished videos emerge from the editing room >with "problems" fixed, chronologies reshuffled, and, when necessary, images >and sound bites clipped and replaced by old filler footage from unrelated >cases. >By the time our 9 million viewers flip on their tubes, we've reduced fifty >or sixty hours of mundane and compromising video into short, action-packed >segments of tantalizing, crack-filled, dope-dealing, junkie-busting cop >culture. How easily we downplay the pathos of the suspect; how cleverly we >breeze past the complexities that cast doubt on the very system that has >produced the criminality in the first place... [The detectives] ambush one >downtrodden suspect after another in search of marijuana, and then, after a >long Sisyphean day, retire into red-vinyl bars where they guzzle down beers >among clientele that, to no small degree, resembles the very people they >have just ambushed. >June 23 > [ ... ] > ... One of my colleagues has a photograph of our executive producer and >Lieutenent Bunnel with their arms around a topless go-go dancer somewhere >in Las Vegas; underneath it is a handwritten caption that reads, "The >Unbearable Lightness of Being a Cop." >June 29 > [ ... ] > ... They seem to become pals with the C.I.'s [confidential informants]. >Sometimes, however, they have to muscle the guy. The tape I saw today >involves a soft-spoken, thirtysomething white male named Michael who gets >busted for selling pot out of his ramshackle abode in the Santa Cruz >mountains. He's been set up by a friend who himself was originally >resistant to cooperating with the detectives. Michael has never been >arrested and doesn't understand the mechanics of becoming a C.I. He has >only one request: to see a lawyer. By law, after such a request the >detectives are required to stop any form of interrogation immediately and >make a lawyer available. In this case, however, Commander Brooks knows >that if he can get Michael to flip, they'll be able to keep busting up the >ladder and, of course, we'll be able to crank out a good show. >So what happens? Hunched in front of my equipment in the office in Malibu, >this is what I see, in minute after minute of raw footage: > [Michael is pulled out of bed after midnight. Two of our cameras are > rolling and a group of cops surround him. He is entirely confused when > Brooks explains how to work with them and become a confidential > informant.] > MICHAEL: Can I have a lawyer? I don't know what's going on. I'd > really rather talk to a lawyer. This is not my expertise at all, as it is > yours. I feel way out numbered. I don't know what's going on. > BROOKS: Here's where we're at. You've got a lot of marijuana. > Marijuana's still a felony in the state of California, despite whatever you > may think about it. > MICHAEL: I understand. > BROOKS: The amount of marijuana you have here is gonna send you to > state prison... That's our job, to try to put you in state prison, quite > frankly, unless you do something to help yourself. Unless you do something > to assist us... > MICHAEL: I'm innocent until proven guilty, correct? > BROOKS: I'm telling you the way it is in the real world... What we're > asking you to do is cooperate... to act as our agent and help us buy larger > amounts of marijuana. Tell us where you get your marijuana.. > MICHAEL: I don't understand. You know, you guys could have me do > something and I could get in even more trouble. > BROOKS: Obviously, if you're acting as our agent, you can't get into > trouble... > MICHAEL: I'm taking your word for that?... > BROOKS: Here's what I'm telling you. If you don't want to cooperate, > you're going to prison. > MICHAEL: Sir, I do want to cooperate- > BROOKS: Now, I'm saying if you don't cooperate right now, here, this > minute, you're going to prison. We're gonna asset-seize your property. > We're gonna asset-seize your vehicles. We're gonna asset-seize your money. > We're gonna send your girlfriend to prison and we're gonna send your kid to > the Child Protective Services. That's what I'm saying. > MICHAEL: If I get a lawyer, all that stuff happens to me? > BROOKS: If you get a lawyer, we're not in a position to wanna > cooperate with you tomorrow. We're in a position to cooperate with you > right now. Today. Right now. Today... > MICHAEL: I'm under too much stress to make a decision like that. I > want to talk to a lawyer. I really do. That's the bottom line. > > [Commander Brooks continues to push Michael but doesn't get far.] > [ ... ] > BROOKS: How old is your child? > MICHAEL: She'll be three on Tuesday. > BROOKS: Well, children need a father at home. You can't be much of a > father when you're in jail. > MICHAEL: Sir! > BROOKS: That's not a scare tactic, that's reality. > [ ... ] > BROOKS: How much money did you put down on this property?...Do you own > that truck over there? > [ ... ] > BROOKS: I hope so, 'cause I'd look good in that truck. > MICHAEL: Is this Mexico? > BROOKS: No. I'll just take it. Asset-seizure. And you know what? > The county would look good taking the equity out of this house. > [ ... ] > [Brooks huffs off, mission unaccomplished. He walks over to his pals > and shakes his head.] > BROOKS: That's the first white guy I ever felt like beating the > fucking shit out of. >If Michael's case ever becomes an episode of the show, Michael will be >made a part of a criminal element that stalks backyards and threatens >children. Commander Brooks will become a gentle, persuasive cop who's >keeping our streets safe at night. >October 1 >[ ... ] > ... Maybe the undercover cops ask the girls to do a little dancing before >getting down to real business. They sit back and enjoy the show. >Sometimes they even strip, get into the motel's vibrating, king-size bed, >and wait for just the right incriminating moment before the closet door >bursts open and the unsuspecting woman is overwhelmed by a swarm of >detectives and cameramen. > [ ... ] > ... And what I see, what the viewer will never see, is the women - >disheveled, shocked, their clothes still scattered on musty hotel carpets - >telling their stories to the amused officers and producers. Some of them >sob uncontrollably. Three kids at home. An ex who hasn't paid child >support in five years. Welfare. Food stamps. Some are so entrenched in >the world of poverty and pimps that they are completely numb, fearing only >the retribution they'll suffer if their pimps get busted ... Others work a >nine-to-five job during the day that barely pays the rent and then become >prostitutes at night to put food on the table. Though their faces are >fatigued, they still manage a certain dignity. They look, in fact, very >much like the the girl next store. > [ ... ] >------------------------------------------------------ >There's much, much more. Gratuitous brutality on the part of the cops. >Camera people carrying guns and badges, and the cops not seeming to care >about the blurring of roles. Cops making fortunes by making sure they >create good TV. >That's the November "Harper's", folks. I highly recommend it. > Thanks awfully, > Patrick "that's our job, to try to put you in state prison" Hailey >(and to enjoy prostitutes, steal property and money, all that fun stuff >that lands regular people in prison) My #@$!%$# editor isn`t working. Anyway, what happened to" American Detective" and Lt Bunnel? I don`t see it in the tv listings anymore. I thought the show was interesting and funny at times. Is he back walking a beat in downtown Eugene?