Arming TV celebrities raises concerns

[Graduater]

Originally Posted by AnnieLechter

Can anybody realistically think of any other film/TV projects that would want to shoot on location in Muncie, besides something like Armed and Famous? I mean, I can't, off the top of my head.

Sure, people make movies about meth addicts and trailer park drama all the time. Well, maybe not all the time, but once in a while. I bet after having shown how receptive they are to the Armed & Famous production, Muncie might start to look pretty good to say an indie film crew looking to make some movie about the bleakness of the Midwest. No?

[Google]

 

[Leftcoaster]

They actually allowed those 'celebrities' to carry loaded weapons and positionally perform in a manner where they might conceivably use them?

The five train for three weeks to become real police officers

Following three weeks of training?

Incredible approaching unfathomable considering the potential liabilities the city could have faced in the event one of the celebrity busts went haywire. I wonder if the contract with the city had the show picking up the tab for any wrongful death or other lawsuit directly related to one of the celebrity temp law enforcement officers.

If not, agreeing to collaborate with the show seems remarkably foolhardy, but if the city had their butts covered in case 3 weeks training of folks unlikely as a whole to qualify for training as real cops proved insufficent, I guess there's no harm. Lots of municipalities scrambling for whatever cash they can generate these days.

The production company lived in rooms at the recently-closed Roberts Hotel, ate in local restaurants and -- in one notable scene in the first episode, at least -- washed their clothes at a local coin-operated laundry. Businesses saw some increased revenue during their several-week stay.

"It's a crew of 40 or 50 spending money," Mayor Dan Canan said. "They're renting vehicles. They're paying us for the cost of our officers."

I watched a few minutes of this the other night, Estrada was busting and moralizing in a manner that is shown on every single episode of Cops, leaving me to wonder what is supposedly watchable about THIS program other than the celebrity hook that proved to be nothing of the sort to me as I switched channels.

[Messalina]

Originally Posted by Leftcoaster

I watched a few minutes of this the other night, Estrada was busting and moralizing in a manner that is shown on every single episode of Cops, leaving me to wonder what is supposedly watchable about THIS program other than the celebrity hook that proved to be nothing of the sort to me as I switched channels.

What makes this show so appealing (to me, anyway) is the fact that these celebs are clearly very sincere in their interest in police work, and also in their desire to perform well and in a professional manner. In fact (as I posted in another thread), the Muncie Police Chief was so impressed with Jack Osbourne that he offered him a full-time position on the Muncie police force. (Jack declined, but asked the chief if he would write a letter of recommendation for him to take to one of the L.A. police departments.) So, Jack, apparently, intends to pursue a career in this field, and that, alone, would be enough to make this show interesting to me. But, it also has other positives, such as seeing a whole new side of LaToya, and I was also impressed with Erik and all of the others, as well. There are no hams or smart-asses here; everybody is very respectful and interested in doing a good job, and I'm really enjoying seeing that. In fact, I really, so far, am enjoying the whole show.

[JackTheDripper]

The three-week thing isn't really all that unheard of. They're not full-on officers after all, they're just reserves. Real reserves in a lot of places are only required to complete three weeks of training. So, in that sense, Armed & Famous didn't cut corners.

[WagTheDog]

Originally Posted by Messalina

There are no hams or smart-asses here; everybody is very respectful and interested in doing a good job, and I'm really enjoying seeing that. In fact, I really, so far, am enjoying the whole show.

I totally agree. If Armed and Famous was like every other reality show and everyone was just messing around and trying to Beth-it-up for the cameras, it wouldn't work.

[Marleybone]

Three weeks sounds a little scary to me, my son's police academy training was 19 weeks.

[Leftcoaster]

Originally Posted by Messalina

What makes this show so appealing (to me, anyway) is the fact that these celebs are clearly very sincere in their interest in police work, and also in their desire to perform well and in a professional manner.

I can appreciate why you find it appealing. Its the celebrity aspect I find, umm, not offensive, just not in the least attractive. Were these folks nobodies of the non-celebrity sort, I'd probably find the notion more attractive. The celebrity aspect just isn't something that draws me, not to a show like this.

Originally Posted by JackTheDripper

The three-week thing isn't really all that unheard of. They're not full-on officers after all, they're just reserves. Real reserves in a lot of places are only required to complete three weeks of training. So, in that sense, Armed & Famous didn't cut corners.

The over 50 corps thats incorporated as a volunteer component of my local sheriff's department gets more than 3 weeks training, and they aren't armed. I wouldn't view the temp insertion of these cops as negatively as I do were they not armed.

Three weeks overall training does not validate the carrying of firearms in my view. They should have restricted them to more likely to be non-lethal varieties of enforcement aids.

Even then, I wouldn't trust any of these temps to have a primary positioning in taking someone down. Detainees have died even from the manner in which they are restrained, whether by design or lack of training.

[ShrinkingViolet]

I doubt that any of the celebrity recruits have real bullets in their guns, even if the show states to the contrary. They are riding along as an apprentice. They aren't handling these calls by themselves. You see plenty of other officers lurking in the background with all of these calls, and their "buddy" is right there.

[HosebeastInMe]

Yeah, I bet even if the bullets are real, if somebody like Wee-man took it upon himself to draw his weapon and take aim at some perp (even if the perp deserved to get shot), Wee-man's buddy would stop him, and some other lurking cop would handle the situation. Anyway, remember, the show is called Armed and Famous, so for that reason alone, they've gotta be armed (it's a great title).

[UmbriaSummer]

For sure! If anything even remotely big happens, I'm sure the celebs will be ushered to the rear. In the rear with the gear. No way the producers of Armed and Famous (or the real cops for that matter) are gonna let them get stuck in a hail of bullets during some kind of huge shootout.