Police Interceptors

A series following UK police interceptors.

Actually a pretty binge-able series, this is a procedural reality show that you could have on the background or get sucked into, depending on your mood.

I actually quite enjoy it. The narration is pretty cringe-worthy, but I like to think in a way that's pretty self aware...I hope.

What it does highlight is how hard the Police work, not only on tracking known criminals, but spotting potential criminals out of intuition. And the amount of resources sometimes required to apprehend one person. I've seen some reviewers comment about how some white people are blurred when black people are not. They clearly don't understand that in the UK you can ask to have your image obstructed after filming. They really do have to take so much abuse for just doing their jobs - imagine being sworn and spat at just for doing your desk job?? It's clearly a vocation.

The frustration is with the sentencing. Not even the sentencing itself. It clearly depends on their age, factors and previous history, but the amount of work the police put in, and the danger they put themselves in, for what is frequently a very lenient outcome, is frequently infuriating!

This show used to be pretty good but the latest season is dire. Where's the car chases, and we don't need the 'upbeat' music. Watch traffic cops, much better.

If you're interested in policing and traffic pursuits in the UK this show is for you.

We need more episodes.....

This has entertaining police chases and can be a relaxing banal way of spending an evening. However, more recently I have began to realise the well-meaning but inherent prejudice in many of those being covered. For example, why does the old white man who refuses to have the right paperwork get a knowing ticking off while the Eastern European father of three gets a fine and several month ban? Don't get me wrong, lots of British people get punished, but this type of unconscious bias becomes increasingly apparent as I watch these predominantly white male police chasers travel the country.

You might think this is all about cops racing around in a menagerie of hot Japanese rally cars. If you're looking for high octane, high pitch commentary over endlessly repeated 60 second clips forget it. This is good, measured documentary making.

The fly-on-the-wall style follows the exploits of an Essex traffic cop team, this show mixes that feel-good detail on how the police go about their business with allowing characters to come through. Segments vary from following full operations from start to finish to those random moments where the police demonstrate the better side of judgement. Everything from routine traffic stops to drugs-busts to changing helicopter engines(!)

Over the top of this is Chris Fox's measured commentary. And unlike quite a few other shows he seems to know when to let the on-screen action speak for itself.