Summary
"The American television show COPS has been the precursor for what is rapidly becoming an expanding form of popular television programming. This quasi-documentary-styled television show contains a combination of both news and entertainment formats.The main purpose of this thesis is to assess the degree to which this so-called "reality based" television police program reflects "real-life" or typical representations of crime and police work in the United States. This study critically examines and draws attention to the many biases, stereotypes, inaccuracies, and distortions contained in "reality-based" television depictions of crime and policing. ...These television shows are by no means veridical accounts of reality. Rather, they are social constructions created by the television industry. As demonstrated throughout the study, the television images of crime and policing have little to do with the realities or complexities of crime and police work."--Abstract.