City Cops’ series focuses on Metro officers

Kirk Baird

Thursday, Feb. 12, 2004 | 8:18 a.m.

Police officers are shot at. Swung at. Spit at. And called every name in the book. Which explains their popularity at least to TV audiences.

For more than a decade the syndicated hit "Cops" has given glimpses into the world of law enforcement: from the arrests and backyard rundowns to the high-speed car chases and shirtless criminals with mullets.

A new series on The Learning Channel (Cox cable channel 33) featuring Metro Police, however, tries to go deeper than that.

Debuting at 8 and 11 p.m. today, "City Cops: Las Vegas" is a three-part series detailing the work of Metro. The other segments air May 13 and May 27.

"What we tried to do is put more thoughts and sound bites from the police officers about how they work, what they like about their job, what they hope to achieve through their job," said Laurie Brian, producer of "City Cops: Las Vegas," from her office in San Rafael, Calif.

"People get more of a feeling for these officers."

Of course, no cop-oriented TV show would be complete without the obligatory chase scenes and uncooperative suspects. "City Cops: Las Vegas" is no exception.

It's just that the show strives for more of a documentary feel, which means shoot-outs are mingled with more quiet moments of police work, such as dealing with the effects of domestic violence.

"There are not giant takedowns and drug busts every day. You go days on end without anything really big happening," Brian said. "We wanted to show all different kinds of problems that these cops face day to day and how they handle it and how they want to make things better. These officers really want to make a difference and we hope to show that."

And by focusing more closely on the police officers, rather than those they are arresting, the result is a show where cops are as interesting as the cases they handle, she said.

Cases such as a mother of two who patrols alone during the night shift. Or a former military man who now hopes to make a difference on the city streets.

To find those best suited for television, Richard Mortillaro, field producer and director of "City Cops: Las Vegas," spent three weeks interviewing officers who were willing to appear on the shows.

There were no restrictions on age, nationality, ethnic background or gender.

"It really was about finding officers who would be interesting out in the field," he said.

With full cooperation from Metro, filming for "City Cops" began in late July and lasted through September.

During that time Mortillaro said he rode with officers for 50 days and nights during all three shifts.

As a result, he walked away with a great deal of respect for those paid to protect and serve.

"There's a lot more to the job than people realize. There's not very many jobs like this in the world where you can go to work and you can be shot at," Mortillaro said. "The military is one thing. When you go to battle you know what's going to happen. Every time a police officer walks to a door, they don't know what's waiting for them on the other side or if they're going to be shot at.

"It takes a special breed of people."

While the previous two seasons of "City Cops" were set in San Francisco, for this season, several other cities were considered -- Miami, Los Angeles and Washington among them.

In the end, though, the allure of Sin City was too strong to pass up.

Unlike other Las Vegas-centered television shows that rarely stray from the Strip, "City Cops" filmed throughout the city.

As a result Mortillaro, who lives in the Bay Area, said he learned a lot about Las Vegas -- including the large amount of gang activity and drug use.

"These are problems every city has. We rode with some cops who are really determined to do what they can to combat the situations," he said. "They really give it their all."