When Detective Jason Lando of the Pittsburgh, PA, Bureau of Police investigates suspicious activity in a parking lot frequented by drug users and prostitutes, the parked driver claims to be waiting for her daughter. As the investigation continues, officers recognize the driver's daughter as someone they encounter frequently. The shaky young girl is found with drug paraphernalia and the situation becomes very emotional as she is detained in front of her mother. On the other side of the country, Sgt. Tom Jenkins of the Las Vegas, NV, Metropolitan Police Department stops a young female behaving suspiciously on the legendary Las Vegas strip. After the female suspect lies to Sgt. Jenkins, she eventually breaks down and admits to working the streets. Another segment features Officer Derek Bishop of the Spokane, WA, Police Department, responding to a call where a female suspect claims to be hitchhiking. Although she was ticketed several weeks before for prostitution, she maintains her innocence. When officers begin to question her credibility, some arresting surprises surface and the suspect attempts to bargain with officers.
Called the original reality show, Cops is a gritty and unfiltered look at the seamier parts of our society as seen through the eyes of the men and women who struggle to keep the peace.
Since 1989, camera crews have traveled across the nation and into other countries providing an intimate look at police officers and the nuts and bolts of their day-to-day work.
Cops uses a modern adaptation of cin... ma v... rit?, a French documentary style of film making from the early 1920s, where life is shot as it happens, without script, narration or interference. Here, the police officer is narrator, guiding you through the shift and what happens within it, using his or her own words.