The Fox TV program, now in its 16th season, follows police officers as they carry out day-to-day activities such as pulling over suspicious drivers and arresting suspected perpetrators, and features crime from the police perspective.
Several members of the city council, however, feared the show would highlight less desirable aspects of Cincinnati, such as its homicide rate and racial tensions--which boiled over in a 2001 riot--and work against measures they had taken in recent years to improve the city's reputation.
Under pressure, Streicher cancelled the deal after two days of filming. But he soon received a memo from the majority of council members saying that a final decision in this matter belonged to him, the mayor and city manager--effectively welcoming "COPS" back.
The police department views the show as an occasion to offer transparency and humanize hard-working city police officers. "We have experienced, in the national media, really negative representations of Cincinnati," says Lieutenant Kent Byrd, public information officer for the police force. "This was an opportunity to showcase Cincinnati for what it really is."
