It’s a good bet that you have seen — even if only once — the TV show “World’s Wildest Police Videos” hosted for many years by John Bunnell. If you’re unfamiliar, here’s the nutshell version (oh, yeah I’ve embedded a YouTube video below too). They took existing videotape — some dash-cam stuff, some surveillance camera stuff, as well as “caught in action” stuff from airborne news assets and whatnot, and put together short segments that sought to educate the public about the real world of police work. The show relied on a steady diet of available video of foot pursuits, car chases, drunk suspects, and armored vehicles tearing up small towns — all manner of mayhem fueled each episode.
Coming on the heels of things like COPS, the show was wildly successful. If you turn on Spike TV right this very minute, there’s a fairly good chance that you’ll see the rebroadcast of an old episode within the next few hours. While there hasn’t been a new episode made in more than a decade, it remains one of the network’s top shows. Well, seeking to extend on that success, the folks at Spike TV are in production again for a brand new season of the popular show, and as a result, they’re looking for videos from law enforcement across America.
I spoke today with my friend Roy Bedard — one of our training advisory board members who at times contributes articles and tactical tips to Police1 — who is working on the project as a field producer. He told me that the show will retain its original format — it won’t be some unscripted “reality” thing with cameras following cops around — and it will retain John Bunnell as host.
“John’s ambition, and my ambition, always, is to make police officers look good,” Bedard told me. “What we’re looking for is video that showcases the best of law enforcement — the challenges of law enforcement and even the accidents that happen in law enforcement sometimes. Obviously, it’s a TV show, so it has to be high-adrenaline and intense, but we’re also expanding it to include stories of interest. Some of it is going to be funny, some of it stupid-criminal stuff. I don’t want people to think we’re only looking for chase videos... We’re looking for anything that showcases law enforcement in the best, most positive light,” Bedard said.
The producers will take older video — even stuff that on old VHS tapes, CDs, and DVDs — as well as the most sophisticated digital video in use today. They’re looking for the old as well as the new — remember the show hasn’t aired in some 13 years, so what you may view as “old” will be totally new to viewers who have been eagerly awaiting a “new” episode of World’s Wildest Police Videos.
Bedard told me that there are three ways you can get video to the show’s producers.
• Send it via regular post. They will furnish you with the account number of an overnight delivery service so there will be no charge on your end.
• Upload a digital file to a secure server by using a user name and password that Bedard or another one of the field producers can furnish you with.
• If it’s something you want to have picked up directly from your facility, Bedard (or another of the field producers) will fly to your location.
Caveat! You will need to clear anything you do through your PD. Bedard recommends simply starting by putting him in touch with your agency’s PIO, and he can pretty much take it from there.
Check out the below (for entertainment purposes, as much as anything else), and contact my friend Roy if you think you can help him out. Contact Roy via email at rbedard@rrbsystems.com or call him at 850-980-7729.
