At first, I thought it was interesting and sort of funny. Then, I thought it was interesting and pitiful. Now, I think it was interesting and just plain sad. I’m talking about “Live P.D.”

For those of you who may have not seen it, “Live P.D.” was a television show on the A&E cable network. The program, from a few years ago, which aired on Friday and Saturday nights, followed law enforcement officers in the course of their duties. What was unique about the program was that it was live, as the cameras follow officers in six different departments across the country. It was the live part that made it interesting, not knowing what might happen.

It was interesting to see law enforcement work in a live setting. When the TV cameras followed a patrolman or a deputy up to a car he or she has pulled over, you wonder. When they walk up to a house where there has been a disturbance, you wonder. Is it just another traffic stop or call, or will there be something else, something more threatening? It made you respect even more the work of law enforcement officers, and what they face every day.

The reality of the program was shown one Saturday night while I was watching. The Richmond Co., S.C. Sheriff’s Dept. was investigating a large house party. A car sped away from the house and was pursued by Senior Deputy Chris Mastrianni. The chase followed through the streets of Columbia with speeds up to 90 miles an hour. It was dramatic live TV which was about to get even more dramatic. The chase ended when the pursued car attempted a sharp turn and flipped over. As Deputy Mastrianni jumped out of his patrol car to check on the scene, the driver climbed out of the car and tried to run – with what turned out to be a two year old baby! The deputy grabbed the driver and tried to hold him down. The baby was taken into safety by the Live P.D. producer. Deputy Mastrianni struggled with the driver for what seemed like an hour, (It was probably about five minutes.) trying to get him to calm down and quit resisting, until backup came to help. It was real and it was live, not like the scripted “reality’ TV that we see so often.

The program was sometimes sort of funny, because of some of the people those law enforcement officers came in contact during the program. The situations and the people that the officers were often dealing with were a good fit for “Dumb Crook News.” How do they get in those situations, and how can they expect law enforcement officers to believe their stories? Almost every episode of “Live P.D.” has some driver after a traffic stop saying, “I don’t know how those drugs got into my car.”

And this, for me, was where “Live P.D” changed from funny to pitiful and sad. Drugs. It seems like just about every traffic stop on those Friday and Saturday night programs would end up with some illegal drugs being involved. The stop may be in Seattle, Washington, or Columbia, South Carolina. It may be in Jeffersonville, Indiana, or Phoenix, Arizona. You soon learn the term, “ridin’ dirty,” which means that those stopped have illegal drugs in their car. The officers may bring out the drug sniffing dog, or may search the car due to probable cause. And most of the time they find the drugs. These officers are good. Of course, they have had a lot of experience.

It was pitiful, because you are watching lives that are being wasted away by drugs and alcohol. It was sad, because that person is someone’s son or daughter, brother or sister, or even worse, some child’s mother or father. It was heartbreaking one night seeing

a mother being arrested during a traffic stop for drugs, with little children in the back seat of the car.

“Live P.D.” was real TV showing a real problem that’s affecting every portion of our country. “Live P.D.” showed how the drug epidemic is taxing public resources and public safety. The program highlighted the economic disparity throughout our country, and a growing subculture of hopelessness that that has too often been ignored. The program shows that it is not a black or white problem. It is a people problem. And the problem is still real.