Season 4, Week 19, of the A&E Unscripted Hit LEO Series
Here’s what you missed on Live PD this weekend.
Live PD is the ratings-winning, three-hour law enforcement ride-along show that ordinarily airs fresh episodes on Friday and Saturday evenings starting at 9 p.m. Eastern time on the A&E television network (unless an additional, “bonus” episode airs in a given week).
With about 40-plus cameras, Live PD producers and videographers embed in real time with officers and deputies on patrol from eight or nine different U.S. police departments and sheriff’s offices.
Given its often intense action, unpredictability, danger, plus quirky and humorous, and sometimes mundane, interactions between cops and citizens, Live PD is perhaps the closest thing that even approaches appointment TV anymore in the fragmented entertainment space. (Live PD has also spawned several spin-offs.)
A Live PD recap with some of the pithiest quotes from the participants follows below.
But first, the good idea/bad idea of the week: Is it a good idea or bad idea to leave a car idling unattended with a firearm and a child alone inside?
Live Plus Previously Recorded Incidents
With usually about 40 live feeds coming into the studio, most segments broadcast on a reported five- to 20-minute tape delay. When nothing of interest is happening in real time, pretaped segments air, which Live PD describes as incidents that happened “earlier.”
For viewers, Live PD is addicting, which perhaps is an unfortunate choice of words in this context. While millions of Americans experiment — and more than experiment — with drugs when younger, Live PD reveals a self-destructive cohort hooked on narcotics (and/or booze) well into middle age and beyond.
Many thanks to Twitter users @TLivepd, @LivePDFans, and @LivePDMusings along with several other Twitter feeds, for the embedded clips and images.
Note: Embedded tweets do not in any way equal or imply endorsement of their content.
As the Live PD disclaimer indicates, not all outcomes are known or final, and criminal charges, if any, may have been reduced, dismissed, or never filed.
When alleged criminal activities are depicted on Live PD, all suspects are presumed innocent unless convicted in a court of law.
Controlled Control Room Chaos
Don Cesareo, the founder and president of Live PD producer Big Fish Entertainment, told Deadline Hollywood the following:
“Live PD is one of most enjoyable shows to produce because it’s such a challenge. We do a lot of prep work in terms of the field, but really what happens is that you show up on a Friday night and settle into the control room and all of the camera feeds come up and the show starts and we don’t have a run down and have three hours of TV to create. The easiest way to describe it is like having eight live breaking stories at the exact same time, but you don’t know all of the details. There’s an energy and controlled chaos that works.”
According to Cesareo, “The show originated after he and his team came across police departments that were live tweeting patrols.”
Variety has more background from Cesareo:
“You could say Live PD was born out of necessity. Executives at Big Fish Entertainment, the production company behind it, realized that at a time when more TV viewers were moving to streaming services, a program that had to be watched live would be more compelling. The team noticed police departments across the U.S. ‘were providing these timely updates over the course of an evening’ to local residents via Twitter, says Dan Cesareo, who formed Big Fish. ‘We found it fascinating.’
“Getting things right took time — even after Live PD launched. Producers had to get access to police departments. Once they got on air, they had to learn to steel themselves against the temptation to jump from one feed to the next whenever a conflict or action appeared to be in the offing. ‘When you do something new that hasn’t been done before, there’s not a road map,’ says Cesareo. ‘It took us four to six months, probably, just to get comfortable with our own setup.’”
As this blog has previously reported, local politicians and activist groups have complained that the show puts their community in a exploitative, false light. This political pressure has in the past led to some departments terminating their contract with Live PD. Currently, several city councilors in Tulsa aren’t fans, although others say it improves community relations and recruitment.
According to the Tulsa World, “A Tulsa police officer at the police station monitors the live video footage as it is being filmed and can disallow footage in real time if deemed appropriate. TPD can disallow footage for several reasons, including safety concerns and to ensure that undercover officers and confidential investigative tactics are not made public.” The Tulsa World itself has separately editorialized against Live PD.
Rules or No Rules of the Road?
Many subjects appearing on the show in law enforcement interactions are covered with tattoos (as are the cops, more often than not), love cigarettes, and often have warrants.
They often carry contraband on their person and/or in their vehicles, the latter which are often unregistered and/or uninsured. That’s why cops often begin an interaction by asking if there is anything illegal in the car.
Transporting contraband such as controlled substances plus no valid license/registration is usually an ill-advised combination as is contraband plus vehicle equipment malfunctions.
Alleged drug traffickers who fail to abide by routine traffic laws or, as noted, lack working vehicle running lights or other related equipment, can also wind up in big trouble following a probable cause search.
The first thing that officers usually say to a suspect in an adversarial encounter is “let me see your hands.”
Two Beers, Not My Pants, and Other Mantras
“I only had two beers” is a familiar motorist mantra when pulled over and asked about having anything to drink that evening, particularly if the driver appears tipsy.
Another mantra is “not that I know of” when cops question a subject as to whether there might be illegal drugs in a vehicle or even on their person.
In the alternative, subjects also often claim that drugs “belong to a friend” or it’s “not my car.”
From time to time, they also claim that the pants that they are wearing in which cops find drugs belong to a friend.
Separately on the subject of wardrobe, males who appear on Live PD often don’t take the time to put on a shirt even when a cop (with a camera crew) shows up at their front door.
“Not my jacket” or “not my purse” are also familiar refrains.
Sometimes “not my car” also is part of the cop-citizen dialogue.
Parenthetically, males and female drug users often tend to conceal their stash in their private parts, making for some awkward if not disgusting pat-downs.
In addition to the drug epidemic across across the country as well as alcoholism, the obesity epidemic is also frequently on display.
When a subject begins a sentence with “I’m going to be honest with you, officer,” or the equivalent, you can generally expect that things will quickly go sideways.
Suspects in custody can sometimes go from combative and brazen to remorseful to tearful in a matter of minutes.
Some mouthy subjects argue themselves into an arrest (i.e., talking themselves into handcuffs) even when cops are about to let them go with minor infractions, citations, or just a warning.
Some suspects seem more concerned about smoking one last cigarette before jail than they are about going to jail.
Several of the cops, many of whom are impressively observant when they question subjects or investigate crime scenes, have become social media celebrities as a result of their participation in Live PD.
Some of them may have a career in television media or politics after they retire from full-time law enforcement.
The Lingo
As an aside, officers across the country have a tendency to ungrammatically add the preposition “at” to the end of a sentence. I.e.: “Where do you live at?” or “Where is he/she at?”
Cops often address subjects as “bro,” “dude,” “bud,” “man,” “partner,” or “boss.” Subjects often address cops as “bro” or “dude.” And instead asking subjects where they live, officers ask them where they “stay.”
They also try to reassure detainees that handcuffs “come off as fast as they go on” if or when a subject gets cleared.
In a pat-down, because of the prevalence of needles used by drug abusers, for their own safety, cops always ask if the subject has “anything in your pockets that’s going to cut, stab, or poke me?”
When asking a subject about drugs or other contraband, an officer often advises that “honesty goes along way” in the context of possible reduced (or no) charges.
Expect the Unexpected
Traffic stops — the primary but not the only enforcement actions seen on Live PD — are often like a flea market. Viewers never know what the officers might find inside a vehicles after either a consensual search or a probable cause search pursuant to a K9 alert or for another legal justification.
High-speed chases are common, as are slow-roller who initially don’t pull over in a traffic stop. In the latter scenario, drivers often try to make it to their driveway or apartment complex to avoid getting their car towed. This is in addition to whatever other traffic infractions, warrants, or misdemeanors or felonies that might be in play.
Apart from drugs and weapons, among the weird items they often find include bottles of presumably clean urine used to circumvent a drug test. Sex toys also show up from time to time. Based on how often cops find these devices, the digital scale business must be very lucrative.
Moreover, as suggested above, no license, no registration, and no insurance consists of a trifecta in many of those stops. (A disproportionate number of pick-up trucks seem to have issues when stopped by law enforcement officers).
For law-abiding motorists sharing the road, the recurrence of non-insurance scenarios has to be disturbing.
Mismatched plates, expired (and/or doctored) temporary tags, and the like are also frequent infractions.
In addition to a cigarette fixation, subjects typically clutch and/or use their phones at all times no matter what, even when officers attempt to talk to them or or even when they’re getting cuffed.
Excessively tinted windows beyond what is legally allowed increasingly constitute a safety issue for officers in traffic stops.
Driver’s License Optional
Somehow in America, a valid driver’s license became an optional credential for many motorists. Driving with impunity while suspended has become a thing.
Motorists sometimes claim to have a valid driver’s license, but for some inexplicable reason, they aren’t carrying it with them. Or it was stolen. Or it’s in the car rather than in their wallet.
Is it any wonder that the cops often ask the person behind the wheel if he or she has a drivers license on them?
Occasionally drivers will say that they have a picture of their license, registration, or other required documents on their phone rather than in their physical form.
Officers often give break to those who are driving illegally, however. Sometimes cops will allow the motorist to drive directly home or call another licensed driver to the scene to take over behind the wheel. This is called officer’s discretion.
Judging by these traffic stops, driving while buzzed seems to be a growing, as it were, problem across the country. Weed laws vary significantly from state to state. Some jurisdictions have decriminalized possession of small amounts.
Some, but not all, of the subjects that police make contact with express excitement about being on Live PD (although occasionally they think they’re on Cops).
In switching quickly from sequence to sequence, and as you’ll see below, Live PD does not always provide an update of how cops resolved a particular encounter, if at all.
As alluded to above, K9s well trained in drug detecting and human tracking regularly assist cops in their investigations on Live PD. Note that because of changes in the laws of some states, K9s in certain jurisdictions no longer get weed-sniffing training.
This Weekend on Live PD
If you’re wondering what happened on Live PD this past week, a recap/summary of Friday and Saturday night’s Live PD editions follows, along with some of the best quotes.
Host Dan “Let’s get in a break” Abrams — he of the puns and the double entendres — and regular studio analysts Tom Morris, Jr. and Tulsa PD Sgt. Sean “Sticks” Larkin provide studio commentary.
Again, please understand that what is depicted on the show, and summarized below, including but not limited to any arrests, constitute mere allegations. Initial assessments or observations made by cops or Live PD, or anyone on Twitter for that matter, may be incorrect, and no endorsement here is meant or implied.
Live PD, Season 4, Episode 46, February 21, 2020
- Berkeley County, S.C. — Deputies interact with occupants of two vehicles outside of motel. K9 Fox deployed; probable cause search. Several deputies leave scene to respond to report of shots fired at traffic stop, but are subsequently called off. Back at the motel, deputies allegedly find white substance in baggie. Two males arrested on drug charges; female released with no charges.
- Lawrence, Ind. — Offciers respond to disturbance at apartment complex between boyfriend and girlfriend. Officer Charlie Kingery interacts with woman outside of complex who is looking for her phone. The male allegedly grabbed the phone from her hand and tossed it. Kingery: “She he’s calling your Newport cigarettes drugs?” Kingery helps her find device; she does not wish to press charges.
- Tulsa, Okla. — Traffic stop. Driver seems reluctant to answer questions or identify himself. Graphic: “Hello my name is….” Abrams: “‘Yo, Adrian,’ that’s what [Officer Joshua Hyman is] trying to figure out was who you are. That’s why he was asking the questions he was asking.” Update: Subject released with no charges.
- Tulsa, Okla. — Officer Darrell Ross respond to report of disturbance at Waffle House parking lot. Subjects apparently already left before cops arrived. Employees didn’t see anything.
- Richland County, S.C. — Car search outside motel; gun allegedly found in glove box. Gun comes back as stolen. Passenger apparently arrested for possession of stolen gun. Driver arrested on unrelated outstanding warrant.
- Pomona, Cal. (pretaped segment): Abrams: “A man just out of prison apparently picked the wrong person to give him a ride.”
- Tallahassee, Fla. — Officers respond to apartment complex after mom called 911 at request of son. Officers make contact with shirtless, pantless man who got into a fight with another male over a woman. He was hiding in the master bedroom closet when the scuffle started. Abrams: “Let’s ‘pull out’ of this and go to Pomona.” Officers try to find apartment where incident occurred, but man apparently can’t remember which one. Graphic: “Curses foiled again.” Abrams: “It seems he was able to better identify the closet than what the outside of the apartment looked like because they still can’t seem to figure out where that apartment is.” Abrams: “Romeo in the raw.” Officers unable to locate apartment or the other male and female involved.
- Pomona, Cal. — Officers conduct raid on illegal gambling casino and detain multiple subjects.
Officer Eric Omahony provides a summary:
- Nye County, Nev. — Traffic stop; vehicle is stolen according to dispatcher. Occupants claim they were unaware that vehicle was stolen. Driver arrested; passenger probably released.
Deputy Chad Barrett provides this summary:
- Lawrence, Ind. (pretaped segment) — Abrams: “Officer Clark was involved in a wild pursuit involving a very slippery weiner.”
- Pomona, Cal. — Officers respond to disturbance at apartment. One man detained. Officer Shreef Erfan explains:
- Lawrence, Ind. — Traffic stop on slow roller. Detained at gunpoint. Apparently a language barrier, and driver may have been just confused and was unaware about pulling over for blue lights. Sgt. Gabe Slaybaugh communicates with driver in French. Graphics: Merci beaucoup….au revoir.” Driver released with no charges.
Officer Stuart Bishop with the update:
- Tulsa, Okla. — Officers interact with man allegedly loitering outside of closing business. He may be related to the store manager. Officer Hall requests that he not bring “drama or weirdness” to the location.
- Tulsa, Okla. — Traffic stop; driver wanted by U.S. Marshals. Driver arrested for probation violation as explained by Officer Hyman.
- Wanted update (“crime pays”) and new Wanted segment:
- Lawrence, Ind. — Officers respond to report of driver passed out behind wheel at stop sign. Driver rolled into police cruiser upon apparently waking up and taking foot of brake. Driver dragged out of vehicle and taken into custody; starts vomiting on road. Driver says he had “about three beers.” Kingery to driver: “Beer makes you sweat that bad?” Driver tells Kingery that each beer was a 32 ouncer. Kingery: “A beer is 12 ounces, okay?” Abrams: “What, what? He wants to pick that up? They did him a big favor by not allowing him to ‘pick up’ up that beer.” Driver allegedly tests .126 on portable breathalyzer; he is arrested for OWI.
- Berkeley County, S.C. — Traffic stop; K9 alert. Deputy Austin Longieliere: “A little goodie bag; pills weed, meth…” Substance presumptively field tests positive for meth. Abrams: “If no one takes responsibility, both of them could end up getting arrested.”
- Crime of the Week — Washington County, Ark.
- Pomona, Cal. — Traffic stop; four occupants. Passenger says car belongs to his little sister. Car search.
- Berkeley County, S.C. (pretaped segment) — Abrams: “Sometimes an ex may leave behind something like an old T-shirt, a worn-in sweater or…a filtration device generally used for consuming herbal substances.”
- Richland County, S.C. — Lt. Danny Brown and other deputies makes contact with subject on passenger seat in parked car. Subject is not cooperative; says she is just smoking a cigarette. Not her car; no ID. Won’t say who owns car. Deputy Daniel Mulcahy says that car “smells like weed and perfume.” Lt. Brown: “The car reeks of marijuana; she’s got a ton of cash in here, and she’s trying to get away from the car as quick as possible, so we’re gonna do a good search on the car…” About $11,000 in cash and small amount of marijuana found. Brown could have seized the cash but instead merely releases subject with a ticket.
- Tulsa, Okla. — Officers respond to minor accident that may be a DUI incident. Driver indicates that he drank about four beers. Officer Ross: “Would you say that’s three beers to many?” Driver declines to participate in field sobriety testing.
- Tallahassee, Fla. — Officers interact with someone allegedly banging on doors in nightlife district. Officer Hill tells subject to go home.
- Lawrence, Ind. — Officer Kingery spots car in closed park after hours. Kingery to occupants: “What are you all doing? I don’t even have to ask, do I?…you know, they make beds for these type of things, right?” Kingery tells couple to go home and do their thing. Abrams: “It’s been a lot of ‘doing their thing’ on this show tonight.”
- Berkeley County, S.C. — Traffic stop; about three grams of meth allegedly found. End of episode.
Live PD, Season 4, Episode 47, February 22, 2020
- Pomona, Cal. — Traffic stop; expired registration. Vehicle search. Driver is suspended. Cops toll one of the other two occupants who have valid licenses to take over driving. All three released with no charges.
- Bradford County, Fla. — Older man says an alleged lady of the evening stole his credit (or debit) card and made some unauthorized transactions. Graphic: “Not my charges. Abrams: “One thing we do know; apparently this vendor accepts credit cards.” Man tells deputies that as long as the credit card company will reverse the transacations, he probably won’t press charges. Abrams: “Sounds like this was a full-service situation.”
- Richland County, S.C. — Lt. Danny Brown spots car with engine running outside motel that has allegedly gun in plain view with child in the back seat. Drugs allegedly found. Driver returns to the car and is detained. Brown: “You’re doing all this with your child in the car..simply ridiculous.” Abrams: “To clarify: The mother did come and pick up the child, so the child is okay.”
- Berkeley County, S.C. — Traffic stop; not maintaining lane. Two occupants Deputies have difficulty finding VIN but eventually find it and determine the vehicle is not stolen. Deputies allegedly detect odor of marijuana. Car search. Driver has no license and apparently there is no paperwork on vehicle. Deputies give driver a break and tell him to park the car and find another way home, plus get someone to tow it back to the residence until paperwork on it is located. Deputy Devonte Carr explains:
- Lawrence, Ind. — Traffic stop; pipes found in pat-down. Car search. “Not my jacket.” Officer Jason Heiney: “She said she’s smoked four days ago. It think it’s probably more like an hour ago.”
- Berkeley County, S.C. — Traffic stop on truck. Car search. Open container. Occupants are tree climbers. Graphic: “Breaking first rule of fight club.” Abram: “That is brotherly love. One bother can punch the other in the face, and they’re just hanging out having a good time.” Abrams: “Tree-hugging, brawling brothers.” Passenger with black eye released with no charges; driver arrested for DUI.
- Bradford County, S.C. — Deputies respond to report of hit and run on front porch of residence.
- Tallahassee, Fla. — Traffic stop on golf court on public roadway. Graphic: “Just playing through.” Abrams: “He’s certainly hoping that he gets a mulligan here. We’ll see if that works out.” Driver released with warning and told to go directly home. Abrams: “It seems it’s certainly helping him that he wasn’t ‘caddie.'”
- Tallahassee, Fla. — Officers respond to verbal disturbance at residence between man and woman. Man complains woman won’t leave. Officer Justin Hill to subject: “You got plenty of women, you got your own crib, now you’re the mean.” Subject wants women to lave the home but declines to trespass her.
- Pomona, Cal. — Officers respond to report of 10 people drinking outside of liquor store. Cops find three males at location, one of whom appeared to be peeing next to building. All released with no charges.
- Nye County, Nev. — Deputies respond to report of Domino’s delivery person who was robbed. Deputies detain a male and female at gunpoint in store. Male says that he had a fight with Domino’s employee who owed him money and that his female companion had nothing to do with it. Male charged with battery and auto burglary; female released with no charges. Lt. James McCrae summaries the incident:
- Tulsa, Okla. — Officers go to motel to search for stolen vehicle suspects. Two men exit motel room upon officers’ direction and are detained. It is unclear if there is a third suspect. Officer Heath Brownell to one of the subjects. “Where’s the keys to that truck?….I’m not saying it’s your car. I know it’s not your car. But where’s the keys to it because you were driving it.” Officers conduct thorough search room. One subject denies he is “Brian,” the person who apparently made the room reservation who has warrants, but that subject also apparently has warrants. The Brian or non-Brian is arrested on felony warrants. The other subject arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle. Abrams: “Either he’s the guy who rented the room, or he’s the other guy. And regardless of which one he is, he’s in trouble…so is the other guy.”
- Pomona, Cal. — Traffic stop; erratic driving. Drugs found under hood. A large group of officers then go to the subject’s residence in what St. Mark Medellin describes as a “surround and call out” that will “freeze location and hit it with search warrant.” Morris, Jr.: “This is a high-risk call-out situation. That’s why they’re going full tactical because they believe there may be guns and other gang members inside.” Cops enter residence and clear house. Investigation ongoing. Officer James Shinn and Sgt. Medellin explain:
- Berkeley, Cal. — Traffic stop in motel parking lot. Graphic: “If the shoe fits…” in reference to the woman’s red shoes. Couple released with no charges.
- Tulsa, Okla. — Officers respond to report of alleged physical disturbance between subject and security guard outside building. Subject was allegedly non-cooperative and was tased. Subject: “Legally, where am I at?” The man charged with assault and battery and resisting.
Officer Cassie Moore provides an update:
- Missing segment — Blountville, Tenn.
- Berkeley County, S.C. — Traffic stop; failure to maintain lane. Deputies allegedly detect odor of marijuana. Driver allegedly admits to smoking a joint. Driver and passenger released with no charges.
- Wanted update (Springfield, Mass.) and new Wanted segment (Fort Bend, Tex.)
- Richland County, S.C. — Traffic stop; expired plates.
- Berkeley County, S.C. — Deputies respond to report of someone allegedly fighting with officers at gas station. Traffic stop is on man operating green bike. K9 alert. Drugs allegedly found. Man taken into custody. Subject: “This is all illegal…” Deputy: “You know what else is illegal? Drugs.” Deputy to subject: “What’s your name, sir?” Subject: “I ain’t got a name.” Deputy: “I ain’t got a name, you have a good night, all right? Good luck to you in the future. Tonight you’re going to jail.”
End of episode.
