Cops: Shots Fired is a 49-minute collection of undated vignettes from various episodes. The program is presented sans credits, save for a copyright notice and the Langley Productions logo.

Here's the line up:

1. Palm Springs, California. An armed invasion robbery which leads to a foot chase, during which the officer shoots the suspect in the leg. The policeman is clearly shaken by the incident, which he calls an "officer's nightmare" because of the shoot-out's proximity to a nearby home. 2. Pierce County, Washington. A minor traffic accident escalates into multiple arrests and a parolee is shot with an officer's taser gun, which gives the suspect a 50,000-volt shock. 3. Albuquerque, New Mexico. A wheelchair-bound gunman threatens the campus of the University of New Mexico. (This one does not end well.) 4. Lynn, Massachusetts. A man with a butcher knife strolls down the Interstate with nearly a dozen cops trying to talk him into dropping the weapon. 5. Los Angeles, California. A suicidal man shots himself in the abdomen with a .357 Magnum. 6. Miami, Florida. In East Little Havana, a man threatens to stab himself during a violent thunderstorm. 7. Pomona, California. A career criminal with a gun and hyped up on drugs is spotted near the local 7-11, while a cop who once fantasized about living in Southern California contemplates life in Pomona (!).

While it's hard to deny the guilty pleasure that Cops occasionally offers, the program has rightly been criticized by Michael Moore and others who argue that its incessant stream of violence only perpetuates the American culture of fear. If you watch Cops long enough, your city's own zonked-out, knife-wielding parolees will eventually be on display. (Mine were!) Although technically none of the suspects "are guilty until proven in a court of law," the preponderance of blacks and Hispanics on the show has likewise been criticized for perpetuating stereotypes. In its defense, Shots Fired, at least, features mostly Latin/Hispanic cops, while one of the more memorable arrestees is a drunk female appalled she's being hauled to jail: "But Ifm white!" she screams. "White!"

With cameras rolling, the cops are generally on their best behavior, and while the show is never critical of their actions, perhaps inadvertently it comments on America's gun culture. As one cop says about a local emergency room, without a trace of irony, "It's the best hospital in Southern California if you get shot. They get the most practice so they've got it down to an art."

Unlike more recent Fox fare, awful shows like World's Wildest Police Videos, Cops does have a very watchable cinema verite quality, taking the time to show the mundane alongside the dramatic. Still, it's also hard to take the show's dedication "to the men and women of law enforcement" seriously watching a DVD loaded with tit-flashing women at Mardi Gras.

Video & Audio

Shot on video, Cops: Shots Fired is presented in 4:3 full frame format with your basic stereo sound. Optional English subtitles are offered which have some mild paraphrasing. If you've seen the show on broadcast TV, you know what the DVD looks like.

Extras

Fox has included a 17-minute Too Hot for TV montage. Unlike the Shots Fired segments, which bleep out all the profanity, etc., "Too Hot for TV" is a veritable symphony of four-letter words and fleeting nudity. The segment opens with "The Bare Facts," featuring the aforementioned Mardi Gras piece, which is then followed by "In the Line of Duty," which puts belligerent, foul-mouthed suspects front and center. Finally, "Moving Violations" offers up a mishmash of pursuits and spectacular crashes.

Parting Thoughts

It's easy to condemn a show as crass as this, yet equally easily to become hooked on the insider voyeurism such programs offer. And while it's fun to laugh at its more innocuous elements (e.g., stupid burglars, muggers, etc., who deserve to get caught), Cops too frequently exploits poor minorities in the midst of tragedy. It presents alcoholics and other drug addicts as entertainers, suicidal gunman for their visceral excitement. Such programming can only, ultimately, be tasteless.

Stuart Galbraith IV is a Los Angeles and Kyoto-based film historian whose work includes Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo! The Incredible World of Japanese Fantasy Films. He is presently writing a new book on Japanese cinema for Taschen.