SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
‘Cops’ return to film Pierce County deputies in action
Jun 4, 2016, 7:22 AM
Watcha gonna to do? Whatcha gonna to do when “Cops” comes to film you?
If you’re an officer in Pierce County, you’ll likely greet them with a smile, according to Ed Troyer with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.
“I’ve worked with ‘Cops’ for years,” Troyer said. “We’ve done over 100 segments with them and we like having them here. Our guys like it. It’s great for morale.”
Related: Ed Troyer explains how encampments like ‘The Jungle’ are handled in Pierce County
Troyer was guest host on KIRO Radio’s Ron and Don Show, when Don brought up that a lot of police don’t like having the TV cameras documenting what they do.
“They don’t want to be critiqued, or end up on Twitter, or get a bad rap,” Don said, further noting that it is difficult to recruit law enforcement officers, and the show could hinder that.
Not so in Pierce County, according to Troyer.
“We get people sending us emails from all over the country about how professional our guys are,” Troyer said. “We got guys that saw us on ‘Cops,’ applied, and now work for us.”
Troyer also noted that Pierce County is quite different than a lot of other agencies shown on camera. It covers a range from Mount Rainier to the Key Peninsula – that’s a lot of communities and mostly rural. And other agencies may have problems with discrimination or inequitable treatment, and that makes departments wary of media attention.
“The TV show likes Pierce County,” Troyer said.
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