Dan Taberski talked to The Business last year about his podcast, “Running from Cops” — about the long-running and money-minting reality show.
He and a team of six screeners watched and catalogued more that 800 episodes of “Cops” and set out to interview anyone involved in the show — police officers, camera operators, producers, and most crucially, people who had appeared as suspects on the show.
In his podcast series, Taberski found several troubling things about “Cops.” Police departments often got final say in what viewers did and didn’t see. And people who appeared on “Cops” told Taberski their lives were much the worse for it, and that they never were asked to sign releases.
Above all, the show presented bad police tactics, like using faulty field drug tests, as effective.
Now, Taberski is back to talk about the end of “Cops” and the impact of it’s very successful alter ego, “Live PD.”
On June 9, following weeks of protests against police misconduct, the Paramount Network canceled “Cops.” The next day, A&E dropped “Live PD,” its highest rated series. Note: When we talked to Taberski, that last development with “Live PD” had not yet happened.