I have often joked that I am a Law & Order Leftist due to my affection for the mighty Dick Wolf-created television series franchise. Without even having to look it up, I am certain that it’s the most successful TV franchise ever.
What that says to me is that I am hardly alone in a fascination with crime and justice. I take a simple leap from that and also say that it’s one of those overarching societal issues where the rubber truly meets the road for many of my fellow citizens. And, in my own Leftist and progressive way, also to me.
This is hardly the most propitious time to say that policing and the justice system are prime needed building blocks of a fair and functioning society. As I write this, protesters on college campuses across the nation are being abused and unfairly arrested by law enforcement. The Supreme Court is debating the notion of presidential immunity. And it seems some of the constitutionally maladjusted occupiers of the SCOTUS bench are OK with a chief executive being free to commit murder. Stories of police violence against African-Americans and other minorities seems like a daily news staple.
Rarely has policing and the prosecution and judgment of those who do genuinely bad acts and break the law been more in need of some “good press,” so to speak. And just as he had with his moral storytelling in all the “Law & Order” shows, as well as his triptych Chicago and FBI TV series, Dick Wolf is on the case.
He’s the executive producer of “Homicide: New York,” a five-part documentary series screening on Netflix. Caught my attention as an ex-New Yorker (in a time when crime there was rampant, but it was still in ways I value the only place to be at that juncture). As a fan of fictional NYC cop shows as far back as “Naked City” at the juncture of the ‘50s and ‘60s, getting a look at the real thing was quite enjoyable for a number of reasons.
Each episode focuses on a high-profile Manhattan murder case, all with interesting twists. There’s the shooting of a pot dealer/aspiring actress and singer who lived in an apartment above the legendary Carnegie Deli in Midtown. A man who was oddly hanging out with two young teenagers at night in Central Park – the obvious why question remained unanswered – whose dead body wound up in the lake. A nighttime office-cleaning woman who seemed to mysteriously disappear from a financial district building. A seeming family murder and a serial rapist/killer.
The show gets down into the nuts and bolts of how police resources are marshaled when the 911 calls come in, and how investigations and interrogations happen in real life – somewhat different from those in TV dramas. Its richness here is in the personalities of those who worked on solving and prosecuting the cases.
It’s reassuring that not all is toxic in copland to come across the homicide detectives in this series. One of them is a Deadhead (ie. a Grateful Dead fan, for any uninitiated) who refused to take off his band skull logo lapel pin when a prosecutor asked him to before testifying. Another who is an expert at going through hours of surveillance camera recordings does so while rocking out to hard rock and heavy metal music. I can relate to these guys.
Then there’s the Latina detective who grew up in the housing projects who often manages to use her common background with the accused at critical points in interrogations to get them to confess. And the Black cop of similar background whose common ground with some offenders helps him in his duties.
“Homicide: New York” spotlights the human side of not just the police and district attorneys but also of victims and their family and friends. It’s reassuring to know that not all cops are bad, and that the forces of law and order include good souls and likable humans just like us. I look forward to the “Homicide: Los Angeles,” slated to follow.
Book: “Blue Blood” by Edward Conlon – I may have touted this book about a young man’s seven years as an NYC policeman years ago when I first read it, but its real-life resonance and blunt yet literate prose make it “The most stunning memoir ever written about the cop world,” says ex-cop and master of both factual and fictional police procedurals Joseph Wambaugh.
TV Series: “Blue Bloods” – Another repeat plug. Yeah, it’s not the real nitty-gritty of policing in the Big Apple. But its appeal as what I would call a nighttime soap opera melded with warm family drama have managed to keep it on my regular viewing list for 14 seasons.
Rob Patterson is a music and entertainment writer in Austin, Texas. Email robpatterson054@gmail.com.
From The Progressive Populist, June 1, 2024
Blog | Current Issue | Back Issues | Essays | Links
About the Progressive Populist | How to Subscribe | How to Contact Us