This isn’t the Cops we wanted to be disbanded but we’ll take what we can get. Paramount Network has pulled the plug on long-running reality police series Cops in the wake of the senseless murder of unarmed African American man George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
The 33rd season of Cops was set to premiere on Monday, but has since been pulled. In a statement, the network confirmed “Cops is not on the Paramount Network and we don’t have any current or future plans for it to return.”
Cops had been broadcast on Paramount since 2013, after it was picked up from Fox where it had run for 25 seasons. The show debuted on March 11th, 1989, and has since filmed 1,100 episodes. The series follows city police officers and country sheriff deputies during patrols.
Cops has faced backlash over the years for the way it depicts suspects and police tactics. A podcast called Running From Cops investigates the ways that officers on the show would sometimes coerce subjects into signing releases to be filmed for the show, and that crewmembers allegedly carried weapons and assisted police. ACAB.
The cancellation of the show follows the rallying cries to “defund the police” that have permeated through Black Lives Matter protests across the world.
Defunding the police would mean taking the exorbitant funds allocated to police forces and redistributing them to public and community-driven programs. It’s crystal clear that the police are a failing, rotten and corrupt institution that need to be defunded.
“When we talk about defunding the police, what we’re saying is ‘invest in the resources that our communities need,” Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza told NBC’s Meet the Press.
Those championing for defunding the cops hope that the community-led, support-based programs that would receive funding in its place would thrive, and lead to a society where police aren’t necessary. It’s time for a systemic overhaul and we’re starting with shitty reality TV shows.
