(12:45 AM Shooting Call) Jersey City - Officer Thomas Porter chose the job because his brother was in the department and most people on the block were cops, so he figured he might as well join. He's driving toward the WTC and says there's excellent job security, the money's not bad, the benefits are great and someone has to do it, doesn't mind helping people out once in a while, that's the job. Officer Robert Falconetti is his partner and they go to the call of a man shot in his car on Second and New York Ave. He is put in the ambulance since he's hit in the head. The car is off to the side on the curb with bullet holes in the window and spent shells on the ground so they leave it to the investigators. A call comes in that someone saw the shooter so they drive over to his backyard and eight cops chase down the tall black guy who says he doesn't know what happened. He's the right guy, but they can't find theballoon that fired the 10 shots. (2:30 AM Shooting Call) Another shooting happened down the road, another fun night in the city. Tony is a black guy sitting on some stairs with a wound to the neck. They ask who shot him, he doesn't know, they took his wallet. They tell the ambulance to hurry since he's falling over. Tom tells the guy to go and asks if he stutters. EMS arrives. It's common in the projects, close to the first of the month, today is the fourth, they've had enough time to get their checks and go crazy. They go out on foot and ask the people around if they saw anything, but no one says a thing. There are lots of unhappy crimes and no one wants to rat on their friends. It's the code of silence, if they rat on someone, they'll be next. Hoboken - Sgt. Mike Plunkett asks the officers if they have their helmets and hands out their night sticks. They are short handed with only four of them until 8 o'clock. Have a good night. His great-great grandfather was a cop there in 1876 and his family has lived there since. There's not as many crimes as there used to be. Lots of the bars now cater to the yuppies, instead of the working class when he was a kid, lots more fights back then. (5:15 PM Disturbance Call) He's going to Redheads bar where the owner has a bat on a customer. The guy says a man threatened him over the phone with a bat. Someone broke into his house in Jersey City and has a bat with his name on it. They talk to the owner who says the guy charged $1300 on his account for City Paint and Johnny is getting billed for it. The guy says he used him as a reference and they sent the bill here by mistake. He says he bought stuff for the lady and they mistakenly assumed it was for Redheads. They said to bill it to Redheads and he said fine. He's paying it right now. He says Johnny told him his house was robbed. The Sgt. says the guy knew they were charging him and he gets tired of the guy talking and interrupting him. He yells at him to stop and tells Johnny he can file a complaint with the detective, it's a lot of money. He can file right now if he's threatened. Johnny says he didn't say it. The guy keeps saying he can't watch his back and the Sgt. believes Johnny. The guy keeps saying it's against the law to make threats and the account has been settled so he can do what he want. It'll be settled in court, not here. After Mike says people come from all over the world to see the NYC skyline and they see it every day. The shot includes the WTC. Orange PD - Officer Dennis Vega says it's good to know the community you are in. He was born and raised there. Lots of the cops there were born and raised in Orange and are trying to give back to the town. He goes to a block party and shakes hands with people as do other cops. (3:15 PM Domestic Call) A man took his child from the mother so they go to her rundown apartment and talk to the mother. The door is bashed and smashed and has ?Jones' written on it in marker. He won't open the door so they call him on the phone and tell him to open the door. He puts the mom on the phone and she says she wants her baby, he tells her to screw off. Her friend has a shirt that reads 'If you don't like my attitude dial 1-800-eat-sh!t' right in front of her kids. Dennis gets back on the phone and says he wants to make sure the baby is OK and to clear the hall. He finally opens the door and is still on the phone. He surrenders the kid, shakes the guys hand and tells him he can't use their kid to solve their problems. It'll make him look bad, even if he's right. These kind of situations can be explosive. The job has lots of judgment calls. Over the credits the WTC is seen from a distance.
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.