Rantz: Progressives angry that ‘Cops’ is filming in Pierce County, Sheriff Troyer reacts

Progressives and anti-cop activists are upset that the Pierce County Sheriff is allowing “Cops” to film with his deputies. But the sheriff said there’s nothing controversial about the decision.

“Cops” is not a stranger to Pierce County. The popular police reality show had already filmed over 125 episodes with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department (PCSD) when they reached out to Sheriff Ed Troyer, hoping to begin filming with his department for the first since 2019.

“It really does show a good, inside view of what police work is like,” Troyer explained to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. “Not just the wild car chases and all that. But the human side of it, and the people that we deal with and what our people go through every single day.”

But the sheriff has some detractors who claim it’s “tone-deaf.”

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Why is there some anger with ‘Cops’ filming in Pierce County?

Lyle Quasim of Tacoma Pierce County Black Collective, an anti-cop activist group, does not approve of the decision to allow “Cops” to film in Pierce County.

“It is utterly tone-deaf,” he told KING 5. “It’s tone deaf to where we are at this time in our social and legal development as it relates to law enforcement and our criminal justice system.”

Quasim complained the “community was traumatized by our police issues over the last several years.”

Similarly critical is Pierce County Council Chair Ryan Mello. He told The Center Square he’s not a fan of the show.

“What the show ‘Cops’ does is take isolated incidents and creates a perception that this kind of violent crime is happening all across the county. It is not,” Mello said. “This takes away from all the work we are doing to make this a great place to do business, work and raise a family.”

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Anti-cop activist

Critics like Quasim and Mello have one thing in common: a far-left ideology.

Quasim is a radical anti-cop activist and former member of the Black Panther Party. In 2020, after the death of George Floyd, he pretended that policing in Tacoma was virulently racist, comparing the death to that of Emmett Till in 1955. “From 1955 to 2020, what has changed?” he ignorantly asked.

Two years later, Quasim claimed little has changed and the black community had reason to distrust police.

“Does the Black community feel safer today with the police department than they did in 1967? And I would say no. I know I don’t,” Quasim said.

Quasim is the problem, not police. And the more the public is exposed to the difficult work of law enforcement, the harder it is to demonize them.

“‘Cops’ also shows that we’re still out there engaging, and we’re still out there doing police work, and we’re still out there holding people accountable,” Troyer explained.

Perhaps that’s the underlying objection from those upset that “Cops” is filming in Pierce County.

Head-in-the-sand Democrat

Mello, like many Progressive Democrats, pretends crime is not an issue. It’s because Democrat reforms on criminal justice are largely to blame for the crime crisis.

Mello doesn’t appear to have seen an episode of “Cops,” which, despite his claims, doesn’t use any criminal behavior to suggest trends in a community or the country. It also doesn’t singularly focus on violent crime, as he suggests.

But Mello suggests “Cops” will falsely portray the county as suffering from a violent crime crisis. It’s not false and he should take a better look at the statistics.

Violent crime in Pierce County has risen sharply over the last several years, surpassing even King County. Auto theft has skyrocketed, too.

Mello’s own district has experienced surges in crime, including the highest number of homicides on record in in Tacoma 2022.

We are now only recently starting to see some relief, but much of the relief is only in comparison to historic highs. And it’s primarily due to repealing left-wing criminal justice reforms.

If Mello is upset that “Cops” might highlight a crime crisis, he should work harder to fix the problem.

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“Cops” is a recruitment tool

Like many other departments, PCSD suffers from understaffing. But that’s been changing. And Troyer tells “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH that being featured on “Cops” is a huge recruiting tool.

“And it’s interesting because I have been swearing some people in … and a lot of them say, ‘I grew up watching Pierce County on “Cops,”‘ when they’re ten, 11, 12 years old. Now those same people that grew up watching ‘Cops’ that I’ve sworn in, are on the street and has the show riding with them.”

Part of the reason Pierce County works for the show is that they are actually allowed to police under Troyer.

“It’s great for recruiting,” Troyer said. “So many people know who we are from across the country and how professional we are, and how we still take care of business. And one of the things I always like to say is we still use handcuffs.

“We have not caved to the madness that some other jurisdictions have. We still want to take care of our citizens in Pierce County and put bad people in jail and protect people. That’s our job. We love doing it. And we love sharing how we do it,” he continued.

“Cops” will be here for about six week

The “Cops” crew will embed with PCSD for roughly six weeks. They already captured footage associated with teens in Spanaway engaged in a gun battle, Troyer said.

Troyer said he doesn’t hand select deputies for the “Cops” crew to follow as a way to set up for certain kinds of footage. He said the crew follows whoever happens to be working on the shift they’re following, though deputies can decline to appear.

Ultimately, Troyer said this is about his commitment to transparency. He wants the community to know what’s happening in their communities.

“We’re transparent,” he explained. “I mean, I think anybody knows that about me in our department. Because we’re an open book, we want people to see what we’re doing.”

“We want people to know what’s going on in their neighborhoods. And we’re not going to try and hide it. We want to solve it. That’s what we want to do. We want to fix the problem,” he continued.

“Cops” is available to stream on Fox Nation.

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