Civil rights violations in crime dramas?

[Redworm]

I'm watching Friday's episode of Numb3rs and it dawned on me that in the past few years crime shows have been more keen on showing their lead characters completely ignoring the privacy and civil liberties of suspects. In this one episode we seen an FBI agent steal a photograph from a political activisit group (the lead character then says "Gotta do what ya gotta you"), was stopped by his partner from simply walking into a kid's dorm room with the phrase "Let's try to break only one law per day", and subpoenaed an ISP for records of a guy that wasn't being held as a suspect.

I've noticed things like this happen on other shows, especially CSI, many times over the years. It always seemed strange and I figured it was a lack of understanding on the part of the producers but more and more it seems like the characters are acknowledging their transgressions during the story. I'm not trying to suggest any kind of conspiracy or anything but it does seem like the writers of these shows are very willing to have their characters operate above the law to solve their investigations.

Does anyone else find this strange or somewhat unnerving?
My apologies if this doesn't qualify for this particular forum.

 

[Silver Bullet]

Have you ever seen "24" ?

 

[tyme]

If someone's clever enough to always torture the right person, more power to him.

I don't think directors/producers lack understanding. I think they want to portray LEOs as not caring much about rights.

What I think they get wrong is which rights LEOs violate. LEOs don't tend to steal pictures without a search warrant, for instance, but they do other things, worse things, things that don't affect the average "good urban citizen." You know, the average person who doesn't own guns, doesn't carry a knife, doesn't own drugs, and doesn't have anything to hide except maybe some infidelity or tax fraud... nothing that will get them in trouble during a cursory (illegal) search, oh, I'm sorry, I think they call them "pat-downs" now.

This average citizen doesn't even view what LEOs today do as rights violations, because my idea of rights and their idea of rights are quite different. So I think producers of TV shows have to portray rights violations incorrectly if they want people to notice.

The motivations I don't really understand; I don't think the producers intend to get people upset over the kind of thing I view as rights violations. I think maybe they're trying to use these fictitious TV rights violations to generate general unrest and to turn people against the government in general, because it's Republican right now and most people in Hollywood believe Republicans are evil.

 

[BillCA]

This is not a new story.

Some years ago one of the networks (ABC?) aired a so-called police drama called "The Commish", about a police commissioner. It was so bad, so fraught with stupid misconducts that I couldn't watch it past the 3rd show.

Let's also not forget "Hawaii Five-O" which served as an anti-gun platform, demonized many gun owners and often showed the lead character ordering a raid without the benefit of a warrant. Personally, I loved the way the lead character could shoot someone in the forearm with a 2" Det. Special at 50 yards.

In the past the misdeeds were glossed over or seemed to show a "dedicated" attempt to stop some crazy serial murderer. Today it seems they're acknowleging some of the misconduct as mentioned above.

I don't know which is worse.

IMO, these shows serve to desensitize the populace to police misconduct in the guise of "public safety" making it more likely they won't complain about what they may see or hear about on the news.

 

[tyme]

IMO, these shows serve to desensitize the populace to police misconduct in the guise of "public safety" making it more likely they won't complain about what they may see or hear about on the news.

So there's a conspiracy by rich hollywood liberals to support the police state while they're badmouthing it at every opportunity to gain support from the proles?

Sounds almost strange and evil enough to be true.

 

[tlm225]

I think it's along the same line of thought as the "Dirty Harry" movies where the viewer wants to see the criminal caught and punished and the hell with the technicalities. If a crime show were to portray the real world of police work it would flop. For every minute of high drama there would be an hour (or much, much more) of paper work. It's much more gratifying to see a TV detective slap the truth out of someone rather than spend hours talking to them as you slowly chip away the layer of lies to get to the truth. Take the shows for what they are, meaningless entertainment.

 

[jcims]

meaningless malevolence

Take the shows for what they are, meaningless entertainment.

I think most people do, conciously and rationally. However, i think television shows (and movies..even video games) plant a seed that just lies dormant until your brain is wandering that neighborhood again (LEO asking if he can 'just check out what's in your bookbag'). By that time, the origin of that seed has long since been lost, and you're left with this anonymous impression in your mind that, well, must be true because you remember it somehow.

Pick any profession that is commonly depicted in television. For example, i work in the information security industry. Any time i'm watching '24' with friends or relatives, something will happen in their dimly lit little office (i don't watch the show very often) that will have someone asking 'can they really do that?'. There's always a healthy dose of skepticism, but things are always presented with just enough credibility to make them plausible.

I'd hate to be a doctor or lawyer (or pimp ) I can't imagine the kinds of questions they get.

 

[dolanp]

Law & Order is pretty bad as well.

 

[Weeg]

Let's also not forget "Hawaii Five-O" which served as an anti-gun platform, demonized many gun owners and often showed the lead character ordering a raid without the benefit of a warrant. Personally, I loved the way the lead character could shoot someone in the forearm with a 2" Det. Special at 50 yards.

He was no lead character...He was Steve McGarrett!