Thread: Reality crime shows give rise to armchair detectives

Reality crime shows give rise to armchair detectives

Updated 45m ago

By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY

One hot June day, Hubbard Garrett, 23, of Augusta, Ga., went for a dip in a city pool and ended up in handcuffs.

Fellow swimmers who had watched Police Blotter, a local cable show featuring the area's most-wanted criminals, spotted Garrett, who had an outstanding warrant for armed robbery, says Lt. Jimmy Young of the Richmond County Sheriff's Office.

"Our folks got him right as he came out of the water," he says.

Cable providers and local TV news stations, taking a cue from Fox's America's Most Wanted, are creating full-length crime shows that feature police discussing open cases — and suspects they want to apprehend. Local TV news has long aired brief crime segments as part of news broadcasts, but the stand-alone crime shows are growing.

Comcast launched its first Police Blotter in Philadelphia in November 2006 as an experiment with "hyper-local reality programming" for its On Demand feature, says Matt Strauss, senior vice president of new media at Comcast. It sent crews to videotape Philadelphia-area police talking about most-wanted criminals, Strauss says.

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"Local papers have a police blotter of local crimes. The local TV stations would feature the 10 'most-wanted' criminals once or twice a year," Strauss says. With "On Demand, it's available 24/7."

Variations of the program now run in 20 Comcast markets, including Chicago, Denver and Baltimore. Programs have launched this year in Indianapolis, Little Rock and Portland, Ore., he says.

Police say such programs are helping to snare suspects:

• In Richmond County, the sheriff began sending cases to Comcast On Demand Police Blotter in November. Of the 24 fugitives featured, 16 have been caught, Young says.

• In Pittsburgh, sheriff's deputies on Aug. 3 arrested Robert Yogmas for burglary, vehicle theft and a parole violation after a viewer recognized him on Comcast's Fugitive Files and pointed police to a local motel.

A tip "cuts down on a lot of shoe-leather time for police," says Sheriff Bill Mullen of Allegheny County, Pa., who began feeding cases to Fugitive Files in March 2008.

• In Yakima County, Wash., two women wanted for allegedly using a stolen ATM card turned themselves in to police after one saw herself Saturday on Washington's Most Wanted, a half-hour local crime show. They were the 69th and 70th alleged criminals caught since the first show aired Nov. 14, says anchor David Rose of Q13 Fox News in Seattle.

Subscribers have accessed the Comcast crime shows 1.5 million times, Strauss says. "There?s an element of intrigue, curiosity," he says. "But I also think people want to help. You could be sitting on your couch and ¼ help the police capture people."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... tter_N.htm

ABC needs to bring back my favorite show

HOMELAND SECURITY USA

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My wish is their command?

'Homeland Security USA' to Return for Remainder of Summer

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-939253.html#939253

Sneak peek of FX’s upcoming drama series

Lawman

starring Timothy Olyphant as a Deputy U.S. Marshal (VIDEO)

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