A real-life expert reveals how cop shows exaggerate crime scene investigations for entertainment purposes. An extremely popular television genre, cop shows have been an entertainment mainstay for years now. Some of the best cop shows of all-time include The Wire, NYPD Blue, Justified, True Detective, The Shield, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and the CSI franchise.
Fans can’t get enough of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’s cast and The Rookie gets mixed reviews, but it remains a ratings hit. Part of the reason why cop shows like those are so popular is how entertaining investigations are on television. However, an expert has revealed that one aspect of cop shows is often exaggerated for entertainment purposes.
In an interview with Rachel Foertsch for ScreenRant, Matthew Steiner explained that crime scene investigators are rarely in peril. Steiner is a retired detective who worked with the New York City Police Department’s Crime Scene Unit. He spent 20 years working as a crime scene investigator, earning enough respect to become the lead instructor for the Crime Scene Unit.
While speaking to ScreenRant, Steiner stated that crime scene investigators are rarely in danger. He then explained that during his lengthy career, he was only in danger a handful of times, including being shot at once. Steiner also stated that one thing that cop shows get right is that criminals sometimes return to the scene. Check out his comments below:
ScreenRant: Okay. Now, of course, TV’s always got to add drama. So one of our editors actually had a great question, which I found very interesting. For some reason, these forensic scientists in these crime scene analysis end up in the line of danger pretty often. I’d like to imagine that doesn’t happen in real life too often, but I am curious.
Matt Steiner: Super rare. It can happen. It’s happened to me a very few amount of times. But it can happen. My career, I’ve responded to and investigated thousands of scenes, over 2000 scenes. In the show, they show them getting into shootouts all the time, and I’ve been shot at once at a crime scene, and that was it. And that’s rare.
Most of my coworkers never have. It was New Year’s Eve, I think it was like 2000 right after the ball drops, there’s an officer-involved shooting, and then a couple hours later on the next corner is another officer-involved shooting. And in between those two crime scenes, some lunatic comes out of the house and starts firing at us and then runs back in the house. I didn’t shoot back, or didn’t have any real chance to even recognize what happened, but that is once out of thousands of times in 25 years.
Most people, yeah, they go their career without facing any real danger, but it can happen because what happens is a crime scene, sometimes they come back, and that’s why you have other officers there that are safeguarding that crime scene.
You have other investigators there that are doing the interviews, and they’re doing canvases for surveillance, or they’re talking to the businesses around the crime scene to kind of see if anyone saw anything. And sometimes when they’re doing that, the bad guy comes back. That is a reality that’s portrayed on TV and movies that sometimes does happen. And I’ve been in a couple of crime scenes, and again, there was no shootout. There was no chasing anybody on my part.
What This Means For Cop Shows
When cop shows first became common on TV, they almost always focused on detectives or beat cops. Over the last few decades, cop shows that heavily feature crime scene investigators have become a lot more common. That change has likely taken place because shows like Dexter and the CSI franchise have made crime scene investigations seem fascinating.
One way that some cop shows have made crime scene investigations seem more thrilling has been by adding an element of danger. However, Steiner’s comments prove how unrealistic it is for members of the Crime Scene Unit to actually be in peril. After learning that, educated viewers may find themselves disengaging when cop shows repeatedly have a crime scene investigator facing danger.
Our Take On Cop Shows Exaggerating The Danger
There are many reasons to love cop shows, like the fact that fans loved Blue Bloods’ characters. However, with very few exceptions, cop shows aren’t usually known for being realistic. One example of that includes the fact that shows like The Rookie make it seem like cops are constantly getting involved in shootouts.
Given that most cop shows aren’t known for being realistic, Steiner’s comments probably shouldn’t surprise or bother most fans. While his comments were fascinating, and it is valuable to know the truth, most fans will almost always be okay with cop shows bending the truth for entertainment purposes.
