TV COPS WEEKEND - THE BIG INTERVIEW

What does the Archive do to get an insider's view of all those TV Cop Shows? Simple we go to the cops themselves - Paul Bishop is currently in charge of the LAPD's Mission Division Special Assaults Unit. His career has over twenty years experience in the investigation of Special Assaults (sex crimes). For the past eight years, his various Special Assaults Units have consistently produced the highest number of detective initiated arrests and highest crime clearance rate in the city. Paul has twice been honored as Detective of the Year. As a writer Paul's byline has appeared in numerous national publications, and his short stories have been published in many anthologies. His previous novels include Shroud of Vengeance, Citadel Run, Sand Against the Tide, and Chapel of the Ravens. Paul's own blog can be found HERE

Which television cop show do you think was/is the most realistic in terms of real police work?

For me there are two choices – One reasonably traditional, and one off the wall.

In the traditional category, I’d place the first season (1981) of Steven Bochco’s brilliant Hill Street Blues. This was before the excesses of N.Y.P.D. Blue (I used to like watching episodes and keeping a running tally of every law Sipowitcz broke) and the embarrassment of Cop Rock (I actually liked this show – but then I also enjoyed Viva Blackpool – however, it was far from realistic).

I clearly remember watching the pilot episode of Hill Street Blues and being chilled to the bone by the final cliff-hanging scene where two major characters (uniformed cops) are gunned down. I came on the job in 1977, and by 1981 (when Hill Street Blues premiered) had only just transitioned out of uniform and into plainclothes as a detective. That easily could have been me and my partner on the screen. I almost couldn’t watch the show again.

The one thing Hill Street Blues did so well was to capture the multiple cases cops and detectives always juggle. In later seasons, the show deteriorated into following the personal lives of the characters more than their police work, but the first season was as good as cop TV gets.

My off the wall choice is the cop sitcom Barney Miller. From 1975 to 1982, the NYPD detectives who inhabited Barney Miller’s 12 Precinct squad room showed us the human, humorous, and all too vulnerable face of law enforcement. The show’s focus was split between the detectives’ interactions with each other and with the suspects and witnesses they detained, processed, and interviewed. I lived and worked in the LAPD version of that squad room every day. Without humor, we couldn’t do our job, and Barney Miller helped us to laugh at ourselves.

You’re blog reflects your interest in cinema, music, and other aspects of popular culture. Like myself you seem to lean towards the classics. I often think I was born in the wrong era. Do you ever feel this?

I love ‘30s pulps, ‘40s fashions, ’50s science fiction, ‘60s spy movies, ‘70s cop shows, and ‘80s Stray Cats. Musically, I’m stuck between the Great American Songbook of the Rat Pack era and hardcore, throttle-revving, rock-a-billy. I wear skinny ties, my hair slicked back, and my pants too tight. I own six pairs of creepers (if you have to ask, don’t) and two pairs of Vans – one with skulls (again, don’t ask). I’m an anachronism, but I’m hip – at least in my own warped mind. In a squad room full of crew cuts and polyester white shirts (my color of choice is black – of course), I don’t exactly blend in. It’s why I have to be good at what I do to keep the brass off my back.

Born in the wrong era? Try wrong millennium.

However, from my blog you can also tell I appreciat singers like Jonny Blu, Renee Olstead, Michael Buble, and a whole bunch of others who are taking Great American Songbook style music to a whole new level. I’m always looking for the next new niche with a new take on retro-cool – what’s old is new again, only sharper and better. But once it becomes mainstream, I’ve moved on. My goal is to constantly help history repeat itself and have fun doing it.

Any cop tales you can share?

How about the time I went to arrest a suspect at his residence, only to have my partner spot a half read copy of my latest novel on the suspect’s bedside cabinet. I took great plasure in knowing it would be a couple of years before the suspect would have a chance to finish the book.

Another time, I was in court during the seating of the jury. The judge asked the potential jurors a normal question regarding if they knew the district attorney, the prosecutor, or the investigating detective (me). A little old lady in the back of the jury box raised her hand. “I don’t know Detective Bishop,” she said, “but I am reading his latest novel,” which she proceeded to pull out of her knitting bag and wave over her head. I guess, you have to take publicity where you can.

For fun - if you were in charge of creating a new cop show what would it be?

Funny you should ask . . . another established writer and I have written the pilot for a new show based on a team of elite interrogators. We’ve been taking meetings and generating interest, but like anything else in TV-Land, these things take time – and more importantly luck.

Interrogation is at the heart of what I do as a special assaults (it’s not politically correct to say sex crimes anymore) investigator. I love the mind game of verbally getting into a suspect’s head and coaxing out their guilt. For the most part it’s an unequal battle. I’ve done this thousands of times. For most special assaults suspects, this is their first contact with police. They’ve never met a monster like me. It’s a game of which I never get tired. Getting confessions from suspects protects victims, lengthens prison sentences, and may even place a suspect on the first steps to repentance – but that’s a whole different interview.

Finally, what are your top five TV Cop shows?

Beyond Hill Street Blues and Barney Miller, for sheer entertainment value (we’re not talking realism here) my personal kudos would go to the first season of Miami Vice and – since I went back to high school undercover very early in my career – 21 Jump Street.

And as I was born and raised in England (with a cousin who just retired from the Met), I have to give special mention to The Sweeny and Dempsey & Makepeace – both of which are extremely realistic (wink-wink-nudge-nudge).

Wait, that’s six shows – can I have six shows?

Hey, you're the guy with the gun. You can have as many as you want.

BISH WILL RETURN LATER WITH TWO GUEST POSTS

Bish Books

Series

Calico Jack Walker/Tina Tamiko

• Citadel Run (1988)
• Sand Against the Tide (1990)
• Pattern of Behavior: A Short Story Collection (2000)

Ian Chapel

• Chapel of the Ravens (1991)
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Fey Croaker

• Kill Me Again (1994)
• Twice Dead (1996)
• Tequila Mockingbird (1997)
• Chalk Wispers (2000)

Novels

• Sins of the Dead (1994)