Cops and revolvers

Did you now that Glen Frey of the Eagles was on the show and they used several of their songs?
Miami Vice as a who's who of people that were in the very beginning of their careers. Bruce Willis, Sheena Easton, and John Leguizamo are but a very few that were on the show. It is fun watching it today to see who was on there.
 
Haven't seen this, I'll have to check it out.....

There was a scene in Hills Street Blues of a nighttime burglary where the boys responded to an alarm and as one of the cops rounded the corner into the back alley one suspect came out the back door and saw the cop and let a round loose at him. The camera showed the muzzle blast up close and personal. When it did my wife said I came off the couch like a cat on a hot tin roof and made about 3 passes around the house. She said I about scared the crap out of her. I finally had to open up to her that just a couple weeks before that was almost me..... even to this day I occasionally get really spooked by sudden bright flashes of light. Ho-hum, all in a days work . . . .
Our agency required couples counseling after a limited set of types of critical incidents. It happened that I had an appointment with the dept contract shrink and my wife, and of course a drunk driver almost ran me off the road while I was on my way, so I ran him down, cuffed/stuffed him and his drunken passengers and handed them off to another officer (it took a while - 45 minutes was pretty standard for backup), then I went on to the appointment, arriving late and smelling like the drunk and with some handcuff ratchet scrapes on my hands. I wasn't fully transitioned to my 'tell him what he needs to hear' facade by then, and he noticed immediately.

The shrink was one we'd used for years; after some small talk he asked me to talk about what had just happened on the way to the appointment - I explained I had been on my way, the incident with the drunks, problems getting them secured, then having to hand them off when my career rule was always, 'you catch it, you clean it.' Talked about the wait for backup, watching the clock tick down, listening to guff from the PO'd drunks, then having to speed to the appointment and how that made me feel like a hypocrite. Finally I mentioned not being happy with my appearance, about which I was routinely particular.

I noticed the doc watching me, then my wife, then back and forth. When I finished, he looked at my wife and said, "It doesn't seem as if you've heard anything like this before." Well, she had not; agency rules were that confidential matters were to be held in strictest confidence - we were told the agency had no authority over significant others, but if confidences were breached to the public by wives/husbands, the officer would be held accountable. Resultantly, they seldom knew anything at all about the real parts of our professional lives.

Never wonder why police divorce rates are pretty high.
 
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I still think Barney Miller was the best cop show, especially from a detective point of view. The show focused on the guys in the squad room and their interactions with each other and the weird characters they run across in a shift. It’s just comes across as authentic to me. I can recognize myself and my co-workers in the detectives on the show. As I get near the end of my career I find I can relate to Inspector Lugar a lot more than I used to.

My neighbor growing up was a State Trooper. He and several of his fellow troopers thought “The Naked Gun” was the best cop film ever. As a teenager I thought he had to be joking, after a few years on the job I realized he wasn’t. I’ve had a couple of incidents that were remarkably similiar to scenes in the movie.

I enjoy watching old cop shows in part because of all the revolvers and the old cop cars. I can remember when square Crown Vics, Caprice’s, and Diplomats were still in service. The old unmarked ‘89 Caprice I drove the first couple of years on the job, with the 350 V-8, was a hell of a lot of fun. Modern SUV’s just ain’t the same.
 
I'm currently binge watching Hill Street Blues, I have the entire series on a hard drive. I used to watch this with my dad when I was a kid, I think I'm still in love with Veronica Hamel! Dad always said Barney Miller was about as realistic as tv got, he loved that show.
 
I'm currently binge watching Hill Street Blues, I have the entire series on a hard drive. I used to watch this with my dad when I was a kid, I think I'm still in love with Veronica Hamel! Dad always said Barney Miller was about as realistic as tv got, he loved that show.
Your Dad and I totally agree. For many years I've often said that Barney Miller was probably the most realistic cop show, except we were always sheltered from the violent aspects of the job. In 1984, I was almost killed in a motorcycle wreck. As I was fighting to stay conscious, I remember resisting the Ambulance First Responders as they were cutting open, right up the middle, my most favorite T-shirt..... "Hill Street Blues." I never did replace it, and after 30 years, I started riding again, but no longer able to today. Thanks for rejuvenating some of my cop memories! Peace and Blessings!
 
Definitely Third Watch and Adam-12. Barney Miller was good. They had police officers as technical advisers. Both had attention to detail (getting called out halfway through lunch, endless typing of reports, conversations in patrol cars, etc). Other shows like Miami Vice were entertaining but far from real. Adam-12 stressed professionalism.
 
I have a lifelong friend that basically lives in the 'nowadays woods in the country, Louisiana, who has weapons, reloads, has been shooting at creatures, targets, everything for over 70 years. Not kidding, could shoot the eyes out of a flea. Some years back, we were shooting our 22lr rifles, me semi-auto Winchester model 74 and his Reminton pump, with peep sight I had put on for him at Crescent gun shop that burned down shortly after. We were in his back field, bunch of dairy cows, shooting at a pine tree, tiny pinecones. He would pump, shoot, and cones went to the ground, 3 times in a row. It was a nice distance, but I figured hey, if he could do it. Three straight shots, I missed. He said, "what are you aiming for?" Thinking that it was a stupid question, I said, "The Pinecone!" He said, immediately, "You have to aim for the stem!" Thinking, immediately to myself, 'I'm lucky I can see the pinecone.' IT's all about knowing each and every one of your weapons, the loads that shoot the best, especially if you reload, and the time you spend shooting and becoming proficient at the art.
 
I hate to say it ... I grew up with three good friends who went on to have career's in Law Enforcement so I got to see the inner workings of our local Department ...but probably the most realistic Police show was ... Dragnet ... or at least that what it seemed like in the 1970's - ... not a lot of Glamor , a lot of tedious paper work and stake-outs .
Gary
 
I concur with those of you that listed Barney Miller as the most realistic. Having worked in a big city detective bureau for 14 years I can tell you this show very much portrayed an average day in our office, especially with all the nut jobs and other eccentric people that were brought in on a daily basis. I also like how the show depicted all of the diverse personalities that exist in any police dept. as those of you who have worked in law enforcement have experienced.
 
Was a Major Case squad Sgt. with Miami-Dade (Metro-Dade then) PD Narcotics (the real Miami Vice) during the show’s run. No Ferraris, go fast boats, or designer leisure suits but all of the fun. Too many stories for here, but it was quite an adventure. And yes, detectives were authorized semi-autos but uniform officers were limited to revolvers, as reflected by the number of Department officers utilized as extras.
 

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