After a couple of years on the job every cop has to make a decision about what kind of cop they’re going to be. The time has come for Officer Ben Sherman to decide.

Getting up in the morning, every morning, knowing that part of your job is to carry a gun, can be a bit overwhelming, if you let it. Ben Sherman is one of those officers who hasn’t quite learned how not to be overwhelmed. He’s also hiding behind his badge, using his authority to carry out a mission. Some argue the mission is a deep-rooted issue with his own father. Some say there are other motivators. No matter the reason, though, Ben Sherman is an overconfident and cocky, loose cannon.

Sammy knows Ben is standing at the edge, and he feels responsible. He even tells Ben that he gave up his position as a detective, returning to uniform duty, so he could help younger officers. Ben shrugs off Sammy’s heartfelt words and heads out to begin his shift, and his quest to hunt down “Pimp Ronnie,” the guy whose gunshots caused the car crash that landed Sammy in the hospital. Pimp Ronnie is also the father of the girl Ben so desperately wants to save from a life in the streets (the bad father-figure theory?).

Ben is partnered with Ferguson (LDP himself), who offers Ben a brief lecture about wasting his time trying to save the hookers, but still has no qualms about about joining the hunt for the man who tried to kill two cops (shoot at the boys in blue and we’re coming after you!).

Well, it doesn’t take long before Ben is in a foot chase with Pimp Ronnie. Ferguson tries to get in front of the chase using the patrol car, but he’s not quick enough. Ben doesn’t answer his radio, He runs. Breathing hard. Sucking wind. Faster and faster. Just out of sight of Ferguson, when suddenly a shot’s fired.

Ferguson runs toward the sound and finds Ben standing over a very dead Pimp Ronnie. A gun is on the pavement beside the body. A gun that looks suspiciously like the gun we saw Ben cleaning in the opening scene. A drop gun? Did Ben murder an unarmed man? Revenge for shooting at Ben and Sammy? Or revenge for the way Pimp Ronnie treated his own daughter? The father-figure-syndrome? No matter the reason, it sure looks as if Ben, overwhelmed and overconfident, hid behind his badge and murdered a man. Granted, the man was not an innocent man, but murder is murder.

Cooper and Tang—the tension is so thick between the two that you’d have to use an ax to even make a dent in it. Cooper doesn’t like the fact that Tang will do whatever it takes to come out on top of any situation, including putting Cooper’s life at risk while she plays cowgirl during an intense shootout at a car wash.

And to make matters worse, Tang flaunts her cockiness by tossing the orange gun tip (the one she removed after shooting an innocent kid) to Cooper while the two of them argue outside the bar where a celebration in Tang’s honor is well underway.

Cooper’s one of the original good guys. He’s a cop, with blue running through his veins. He’s the guy who goes home, strips off his gear, and can get a good night’s sleep knowing he did the best job he could possibly do. Sure, he’s got his flaws, but at the end of the day his badge is shining as brightly as it ever did. No tarnish there, no sir.

Lydia (Regina King) delivered a powerful performance off camera last night. We didn’t have to see or hear what went on in that burn victim’s hospital room to know how deeply the interview affected Adams. Her emotional rooftop scene afterward told us all we needed to know. She was keeping her baby and she was not going to let anything happen to it. Not ever. And she proved that by taking a desk job for the duration of her pregnancy.

This was a season finale that really delivered. The show started with a bang and never let up until it ended with a quick one-two punch to the gut. Then, without giving us time to catch our breath, the writers left us with a few unanswered questions.

– Sammy knows, and we know he knows. Once again, Shawn Hatosy said a million words with mere facial expressions. And I don’t think he likes the Ben he’s seeing. And I’m not sure I’m liking what I see either. Ben’s on a one man quest to save the world, but who’s going to save him from himself?

– Cooper has a new boot, a clumsy, new recruit who’s ready to be molded into a real police officer by TO John Cooper. Let’s hope Cooper has better luck with this one. Hey, things have to be looking up, right? After all, Cooper’s got a shiny orange good luck charm on his key chain. What more could he ask for?

– Tang is a sergeant. You know, sometimes it’s the devious and not-so-nice that get ahead. That’s life. Accept it.

The show started on a Wednesday this year, with freshly scrubbed faces and new attitudes. It came to a conclusion on Thursday, with battered bodies and troubled hearts. Will the relationships survive? Should they?

One thing I’m certain of…everyone involved in this show absolutely wants to “get it right.” They want to accurately portray life as a police officer. And they pull no punches. In fact, there was one scene in last night’s episode that summed it all up while using very few words.

Cooper and Tang entered the car wash, knowing there were armed gunmen hiding inside. Extremely frightened customers and workers were running outside to safety. Cooper encouraged them to leave. “Go. Go. Go. Get out of here,” Cooper said to them. And then he and Tang headed straight into the danger. No hesitation. No second thoughts. Because that’s what cops do. They head into danger while everyone else runs away from it.

Will we see the officers of Southland again next season?

I certainly hope so, because this is hands-down the best darn cop show on TV.

Light ’em up!

*     *     *

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Want to see how and why the Southland stars “get it right?”

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Special guest speaker – Renowned forensic anthropologist Dr. Elizabeth Murray.

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And…

How do you like The Graveyard Shift’s new look?

Cops are often asked if they believe they’re doing God’s work. Officer Ben Sherman is just trying to do the job without losing his soul.

All cops burn out. That was the message delivered in the pre-shift briefing, or “muster” as it’s called in some departments. But, no matter what you call the meeting, the message remains the same. It’s a tough job that can wear you down. Down to the core if you’re not careful. All that built-up tension and stress has to go somewhere. After all, you shake the soda bottle, and you shake it, and you shake it, and then when the top finally pops off…well, we all know happens. And it’s a mess.

Speaking of a real mess. Ben Sherman reached that rookie fork-in-the-road and definitely went in the wrong direction, taking a left when the scarecrow pointed right. And Ben’s unfortunate choice has led him down a very lonely and dangerous road called “I can save the world all by myself.” Had he chosen, instead, to go right as the dimwitted talking mattress had suggested, by now Officer Sherman would have been a well-adjusted and productive police officer who still shines his shoes and polishes his badge daily, much to the delight of his superiors.

Instead, we see a rookie who’s speeding down the road to unemployment, and possibly wearing handcuffs. His shoes are scuffed and the sheen is fading from his badge. It happens. Officers often find themselves standing at the fork in the road, forcing them to make a decision between left and right. But all they have to do is listen to the scarecrow inside their head. He always knows the right way. Never buck the scarecrow.

This week, actually, we see each of our teams—partners—facing that fork in the road, with each of them up against different, potentially badge-dulling decisions.

Cooper’s guts are churning over the issue with Tang. She covered up something that really needed no cover. He can no longer trust her. But the worst part of it all is that he hasn’t come forward with the truth, and that’s what wearing the badge is all about. That’s really what’s eating at John Cooper. It’s his own integrity he’s questioning, not hers. He already knows what she’s all about.

Using a lie—almost killing an innocent person and then covering up the act—to advance your career. Yeah, that’s disgusting.

Cooper is later seen with his sponsor, who asks him, “Still thinking about it (the drugs and his addiction)?”

Cooper responds, “Every minute of every day.”

A pause.

Cooper asks, “Ever get over that?”

Sponsor. “No, but it gets easier.”

How true. Drug addiction is not like a cold. You don’t get well after you fight off the sickness, you just don’t use drugs. But you’ll always want to.

Michael Cudlitz does a wonderful job of playing the troubled John Cooper. If I didn’t know better I’d think he’s really a reincarnated drug-addicted veteran cop. There are parallels between his character and some real life cops that are, well, they’re simply uncanny.

Lydia and Ruben catch a case where a pregnant nanny fell to her death from an upper tier in a parking garage. The case was unusually weak for this series, with no real closure for the viewers. But the scenes weren’t about the case. Instead, it was yet another incident designed to further the storyline regarding Adams’ pregnancy. And we did learn the father’s name this week, Terrell, and that Papa “T” is a married man.

I still say this particular storyline is a slight hurdle for the show. It slows the episode to an almost standstill every time we see it. Yes, I know that female officers do get pregnant and they do have to work around the pregnancy while continuing their careers. But that’s in real life, why insert that into what’s always been an extremely action-packed TV series. Still, Regina King is a fantastic actor who does a great job with what she’s given. Don’t get me wrong, the writing is solid. Excellent, even. I’m just not a fan of the direction they’ve given Lydia to travel. Any other show, yes. But not for Southland. However, some viewers may love these scenes and what they bring to the show.

Tell you what, though, I have a perfect scene in mind for Lydia. Cheo, you listening??

Sammy and Ben – Ben’s traveling down the “save the world” path and he’s dragging Sammy along with him. However, Sammy’s only there to pick up pieces and clean up the mess Ben’s leaving in his wake. In fact, Ben’s on such a destructive path (beating up/assaulting a pimp, punching a teenage girl, sleeping with every badge bunny with a pulse, etc.) that Sammy’s forced to give him the “I’ll pull you to safety but stop kicking while I swim,” speech.

During Sammy’s speech, he pointed out the things an officer stands to lose by not following the rules and living up to the standards that go hand in hand with wearing a badge.  He said, “I’ll back you up punch for punch, bullet for bullet. But I’m not going to give you my house. I’m not going to give you my pension. And I’m not going to give you my freedom. Don’t ever do anything like that again.” So you see, police officers have a lot more to lose than just a job when they break the rules. One wrong move and they could lose everything.

And let’s not forget the stellar performance by Ben McKenzie. He’s truly bringing us a very complex character and he’s delivering him to us in large servings. Great, great job.

Compelling moments during this episode:

– The woman/rape victim realizing she’d shot a man who was simply trying to give her the set of keys she’d dropped. He was not stalking her.

– The teenage girl forced to work as a prostitute to survive.

– Tang using her “shooting gone wrong” to impress the panel during her promotion-to-sergeant interview.

– Sammy facial expressions. No words could have better described what he said to Ben with that face.

– Dewey’s comment to Tang – “If you can live with it (the shooting and the lies) nobody can stop you.”

– Cooper looking on during Tang’s sergeant interview.

– Sammy and Ben searching the vacant house. They both took a glance down before climbing the stairs. No tripping. No noise. Never give away your position.

– Sammy’s favorite line, repeated by Ben, “Who wants to go to jail; who wants to go home? We’ve all said that at least a thousand times, and it usually produces excellent results. There’s always someone who’d rather give up the goods than to go to jail.

Southland is definitely a character-driven show. I think you could hand this cast a handful of furniture store going-out-of-business-sale flyers, telling them that’s the script for the next episode, and they’d turn those few silly words into a gripping, compelling story that would keep us all coming back for more.

I’ll say it again, this is the best, most realistic cop show to ever hit the TV screen.

*     *     *

Registration for the 2012 Writers’ Police Academy has officially begun.

Space is limited to the first 150 people to sign up.

You don’t want to miss this action-packed weekend. Besides, where else could you go to play cops and robbers with Lee Child!

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“The average street cop in Los Angeles makes $75,000 a year. It’s not enough.”

Ben is standing in a place that’s all too familiar to veteran cops all across the country. He’s on top of the world—at the very tip of the peak—and he’s balancing on the big toe of one foot. Seasoned officers, officers who’ve been on the job for many years, have been there and done that. They’ve all gone through the “I-just-finished-my-training-and-I-know-more-than-every-other-cop-in-the-world stage.

Sherman thinks he’s the hotshot cop who can save the world from everything and anything. And he’s got Badge Bunnies hopping around him like he’s a human carrot in uniform. But he’s got a lot to learn…a lot. Like discovering what it actually means to be a police officer, and how to truly become a partner to the guy who’s standing beside you while facing a dozen angry, armed gang members. Your partner, the guy who has your back through both the good and the bad.

Nope, being a cop isn’t all running fast, looking cool in uniform, and dodging bullets. First and foremost, of course, it’s about protecting the public, putting their lives before yours. And it’s about trusting your partner and knowing your partner trusts you. Without earning that confidence, well, you may as well start scanning Craigslist for job openings, because you’ll never be a real cop. Never.

And Ben absolutely must realize that the way to earn the trust of the public is not by engaging in a menage-a-jump-out-the-second-story-window-trois with Ima Killu’s wife and her friend. But Ben’s in that “stage.” He’ll learn. They all do. But it takes time, a few hard knocks, and plenty of hurt feelings, and maybe even a couple of official reprimands. And, he’ll probably be on the receiving end of a nasty bite from a rabid bunny before it’s all over.

Officer Sherman has reached the first critical crossroads in what could be a long career. Will he choose the right direction? Well, that’s up to the writers, and so far they’ve done a fantastic job of taking us on the journey. And Ben is allowing us to see that trip through his eyes. A really great job by both the actor and the folks who put this on paper.

Lydia’s on a personal journey of her own. A journey that’s experienced by many female officers. A journey that male officers will probably never fully understand. She’s torn between a career she absolutely loves and the little one inside that she isn’t sure she should even want, at this point. She knows that once she tells the department, they’ll surely put her on some wacky desk job, like filing papers in evidence, or answering phones at the department’s “I’m Calling Because I’m Stupid” hotline. And you know what…wearing a uniform after working in plainclothes for any period of time almost seems like a demotion, even if it’s not. And, those things are hot and uncomfortable!

Lydia demonstrates just how uncomfortable a uniform can be when we see her slide out from behind the wheel for the first time back in uniform.

Sgt. Adams unhooks her seatbelt and leans to her left, getting out of the patrol car. Did you happen to notice the grimace when she made the move to step out? Now that brought back memories. Do you see the space between her belt line and the bottom of her vest? Well, picture a wide and thick gun belt attached to her regular belt, at the top of her pants. Then, imagine as you lean to the side that space between the belt and the vest narrowing until it finally closes…with the soft flesh of your side pinched tightly between! Yes, that’s the cause of the wince. It hurts. Yeah, I know, being pregnant didn’t help any.

Lydia’s next move was to grab the top of the vest that had pushed upward toward her throat. She pulled it out and away from her body, an effort to relieve the irritating claustrophobic choking sensation. Now this is something that you get used to (the vest choke) but officers still do “the grab and pull” all the time, all day long. First, to stop the choke, and second, to allow the oven-like heat that’s trapped between the vest and your skin to escape and be replaced by a bit of fresh, cooler air.

– Cooper and Tang are stuck with a camera crew riding along, capturing their every move and word. That’s a scenario that cops are generally not fond of. They don’t trust the media because the media sometimes paints officers in a bad light, especially when any kind of force is used to subdue suspects.

I have many friends who work in various aspects of the media and it’s always an eye-opener for them when we invite them to attend police training so they can get a feel for why cops do what they do. The absolute biggest opinion-changing eye-opener is when they go through FATS training (firearms training simulator) where they’re faced with actual shoot/don’t shoot scenarios that happen in real time. Their reactions are most often of disbelief, horror that things escalate so quickly, and they’d have been killed if they’d hesitated to use deadly force, which many do…the first time.

Anyway, Cooper and Tang are called to a bakery where there’s a dispute between the owner and a customer. Coop and Tang separate the two (good technique) and then make the customer leave. In the meantime, they work with the man’s wife and the owner to reach a solution. Of course, all this takes place with the man’s young child in the thick of it all. And that, I’m afraid, is often the norm. Children suffer because daddy or mommy can’t control themselves or their actions.

– Sammy attempts to talk to a man whose son was killed in retaliation because he helped the police (Sammy) identify a criminal suspect. The man punches Sammy, blaming him for his son’s death, a death Sammy also feels responsible for causing. Sammy doesn’t fight back out of guilt.

– Ben and Sammy respond to an officer needs assistance call. The officers who needed the help were an oddly-matched pair—a male officer who was rather large and extremely out of shape, and a female officer who, as Sammy described, was, “Five foot and 99lbs soaking wet.” He resented having to come to aid because of their physical limitations.

Now, male or female. each officer should be able to hold their own and not have to call for assistance on calls that shouldn’t require assistance. I feel Sammy’s pain. When you’re trying to arrest a combative suspect and you spend most of your energy protecting someone who could barely lift a 5lb bag of sugar, well, that person is a liability on the street. They could easily get hurt and, their partners will surely be hurt trying to protect them.

I once worked on a shift with a person who was 4’11, weighed 91 lbs, had to sit on a pillow to see over a patrol car steering wheel, and couldn’t pull the trigger on a standard, department-issued weapon because his/her fingers were too short. Now, I ask you, would you feel confident wading into a bar fight among motorcycle gang members with that person as your backup? I’ve done it, and it wasn’t a good feeling. Sammy was right. Some people shouldn’t be cops.

– Ben and Sammy roll up on a group of guys who immediately set their beer bottles and cans on the ground. That’s exactly how it happens in real life. Good scene. And Ben’s searching technique was spot on—have the suspect clasp his hands behind his head, officer grabs the fingers of both hands and slightly leans the guy backward, off balance. Then he starts the pat down with using his free hand, Patting every (I mean EVERY) area of the body, searching for weapons and other contraband.

– When Ben and Sammy first started their shift Ben began a search of their patrol car, looking under the seats, etc. This is done every day, between every shift, by both oncoming officers and those leaving for the day. The purpose of the vehicle search is to locate any contraband that may have been stashed there by suspects who’d been transported in the back seat area/cage. The search is supposed to be conducted after each transport as well. Then, oncoming officers know that anything they find belonged to the last suspect who rode in the car.

Ben thinks Sammy planted/conveniently found a crack pipe in their patrol so he could frame the guy he believed killed a witness to an earlier crime. He accuses Sammy of the illegal and immoral act only to learn later that the pipe was already inside their car, left there from the previous shift. The officers had neglected to search at the end of their watch. Ben attempts to apologize but a lot of damage has been done. He didn’t trust his partner. He didn’t back him…stand by him. Didn’t believe in him. Unlike Sammy who stood by Ben when he punched the girl. Remember?

It will be interesting to see how the tension between the two partners works out. If it works out. That sort of incident makes it extremely difficult to trust your life to someone you’re not sure will be there for you when you need him.

– Cooper and Tang are behind a car. The driver’s nervous and, like many drivers across the country, he starts doing all sorts of dumb things. Black and White Fever is the cop’s name for what happens to drivers who suddenly realize a police car is behind them. They start swerving, braking too often, stopping in odd places, run red lights, and more. So Cooper nailed this one on the head, stating that drivers forget how to drive when a cop car shows up in their rear-view mirror.

_ Lydia earns a spot in the ER when she’s struck in the belly. But the physician assures her that the baby is fine. Lydia, though, is not. And a lone tear rolled down her cheek to let us know that she’s hurting from far deeper pain than the punch in the gut.

Now, regarding Lydia. It was great to see her in uniform and in action last night. Did you notice how the show seemed to fly by from opening credits until the screen went dark at the end? That’s because there were none of those “driving and thinking” scenes to slow us down. No walking around a crime scene talking about feeling sick and sad. Nope. None of that. And I certainly hope the writers remain on this track, because action, realistic action, is what makes this show stand out from all the other cop shows.

Southland is all about the day-to-day action that patrol officers face during their shifts. And that’s the stuff that drives the show’s fan crazy with excitement and enthusiasm.

And talking about realistic action…

How about Tang and knife-wielding woman? Great scene, and she and Cooper were right. They should have shot the woman when she first lunged at Dewey with the knife. But deep inside you never want to do that. You just don’t. So Tang tackled her, hoping to end the situation in the best possible way. It wasn’t her fault the lady was injured.

Then comes Cooper’s fight-for-his life fight scene. Now that was how to insert tension into a TV show. It was real. Very real. If I could’ve crawled into my set to help Coop I would have. And that brings up my final point for the week. These actors take their roles so seriously that their characters come across as real people. And I, for one, am glad that these guys are out there to protect us, even if it’s only for one night each week.

“LAPD officers spend every shift trying to help people who often don’t even know they need help. Some days the trying works better than others.”

When you’re at home watching episodes of Southland, thinking about the excitement, action, and gritty real-life scenes, there’s a cop out there, somewhere, who’s just hopped from her patrol car to chase down a six-foot-tall loser who robbed a liquor store by beating the clerk to death with a baseball bat. In another precinct, two officers are in a foot pursuit of a child rapist. In the county, deputies are running through the dark woods chasing a man who just shot and killed his wife and kids.

“He’s running!” Two words that send an officer’s adrenaline into high gear.

Through dark, blind alleys, over chain-link fences, behind a row of houses in the worst of worst neighborhoods, across a parking lot into a muddy field, around and through parked cars. One has a gun. A flash of metal? The chases go on and on and on. Every day. Every night. Every week. They run and run and run. All while you’re at home eating popcorn while watching Southland, thinking, is this stuff for real? Do officers really do the things we see on Southland? Are their personal stories for real? There can’t be that much action during a single shift…right?

Well, I can sum up answers to all your questions with a single word. Yes.

And that realism began last night with Lydia chasing a young girl, a murder suspect who managed to slice Lydia’s arm with a knife. But we also saw Lydia going through a very personal experience. She’s pregnant and that’s something that will definitely affect her career. Actually, it already has. Imagine fighting crime with a serious case of morning sickness. Think seeing someone else’s guts splattered on a ceiling is fun while your own insides are churning like a strawberry smoothie in a blender?

You see, police work is not like the typical nine-to-five assembly line job, where the happy mother-to-be can take a break when she needs it. Or take it easier than normal while still being productive in her normal job. Nope. A cop absolutely must be able to instantly run faster, jump higher, be stronger, and dodge speeding bullets…at all times, every minute of the day.

For obvious reasons, a pregnant woman could not and should not engage in a toe-to-toe battle with a 300lb knife-wielding, drug-crazed man. No, Lydia’s got some serious desk duty in her future, and that’s just not her style. So I’m anxious to see how she copes with answering phones and rubber-stamping forms all day.

Ben is also going through a few life-changes of his own. He can’t escape the “punching-the-teenage-girl-in-the-nose cloud over his head.” And his partner, Sammy, insists that Ben distance himself from his party-hard lifestyle by moving into the “Land of the Blue,” the section of the suburbs where many of his fellow cops reside.

This episode, Identity, deals with the two sides of police work, the side you all see, the actions of the person wearing the badge and the uniform, and the internal side of that person. The human qualities of the police officer. And we see how all that unfolds during the course of a single shift. Yes, my friends, this was a glimpse, a brief peek, at what it’s like to work the streets as police officer during the course of only one day. Think you’ve seen a lot in your lifetime. Well, try on these shoes…

Cooper and Tang, CoopTang, Tangooper, Tooper, whatever the moniker of the week, is a really good crime-fighting duo. I can see them in any patrol car, in any department in the country.

Michael Cudlitz has really poured himself into this role. So much so that, I think, he’s even gone the extra mile by doing what I’ve seen many cops do, well, the ones who hit the weights pretty hard sometimes do this. It’s a little trick that’s used to make your already decent-looking biceps look even bigger and better, a bit of intimidation factor for the bad guys. You know, “if he looks big and strong I’ll back down quicker.” And that trick is to reduce the size of the uniform sleeve at the point where the bulging muscle is first exposed. The shirt is then tighter around the bicep, making the muscle appear larger. I’ve seen this done many, many times. And, some even pack those large frames into a size too-small-shirt for the same effect.

So…did he, or no? Michael…is there a seamstress in your life? Or, have you achieved the 22″ bicep status?

But, even if that’s the case, Cudlitz has gone the extra mile. He’s fit, healthy, and he’s got decent guns even if he decided to hide them under a normal-size uniform sleeve. One thing’s for sure, though. He’s working out.

Cooper and Tang find themselves on an almost endless quest to help a homeless man, Tom, a marine who’d unfortunately lost contact with much of reality, get off the streets and into a shelter. The shelter kicked the man out because he’d lost his ID (someone had stolen it). Tang, whose father was a marine, was totally obsessed with helping the man, putting his needs above everything else that came up, including the mangled body of someone who’d been hit by a train. Cooper playfully argued with sheriff’s deputies about which department had jurisdiction over the case (part of the badly mangled body was in L.A. while the other section(s) were splattered on the “other side of the tracks.” Tang, on the other hand, ignored the body, the deputies, and Cooper, by spending her time on the telephone talking to people who wouldn’t help the homeless man (Tom) with obtaining new identification cards and papers.

And then there was the “invisible man” who stopped CoopTang in the street, professing his love for their patrol car. The man, who was obviously on vacation from another planet, decided to show Cooper his karate expertise (not). But, Cooper wasn’t having any of it and added another nose-print-trophy to the hood of the patrol car. Yep, slammed the guy onto the hood (that’s a favorite tool and trick). It’s easier to cuff someone who’s resisting when you’re able to hold them against something, such as a car, on the ground, against the side of a building. It also prevents the guy from turning around, a move that would allow him the chance to take a swing at the officer. So, no, cops aren’t trying to hurt the suspect by pushing him down onto the car hood. Instead, the car, etc. is simply used as a tool to help safely effect the arrest. Now you know why all the tiny, round dents on the hoods of many police car. And you thought it hail damage!

Sammy and Ben also have their share of calls—a female murder victim for starters. But they see an assault taking place and jump out to chase the suspect. During the chase, Sammy loses sight of Ben in an alley, but hears a noise coming from behind a dumpster. He draws his weapon and suddenly there’s movement. And that something comes toward him. The attacker? BANG! Sammy shoots. But it’s not the attacker. It’s a large dog, and Sammy feels terrible. He removes his t-shirt to apply pressure to the animal’s gunshot wound. The dog is taken to the vet where Sammy agrees to pay for life-saving surgery. He also plans to adopt the dog.

Needless to say, Sammy takes a lot of teasing from his co-workers, including the always comical Dewey who passed by Sammy while making barking sounds. And Ben’s Scooby imitation…Rerry Runny, rusn’t it Rammy?

Ben and Sammy are on patrol when they see two kids, gang members, so they roll up and jump out. The kids run. Don’t these people know they can’t outrun Sammy and Ben? Anyway, this was a favorite tactic of mine. When they run you chase. Why do they run? Because they’re wanted or because they’re holding something illegal, like drugs or guns. So we chase. We catch them. And we arrest them for possession. Had they not run, well, there’d have been no real reason to search them. So…as usual, dumb crooks.

The duo, Ben and Sammy, are summoned to a building where a woman says someone inside has a knife and is going to kill someone else. So, again, they run inside.

Okay, this is where you need to use a little bit of slow motion because I’m going to point out something that’s sort of interesting. A mini workshop.

During the yelling and screaming (“Put down the knife!”), Ben sees the body of a young girl floating in the water. He runs to the edge of the pool, stripping his gun belt on the way, and dives in to save the girl (reminds me of the water rescue training at the Virginia State Police Academy where cadets had to “rescue” a cinder block from the bottom of the pool).

All right, back to the lesson. Pencils and notebooks handy?

If you’ve read my book on police procedure (page 44) you know that officers wear “belt keepers,” thin straps that circle around the gun belt attaching it to the regular belt that everyone wears to hold up their pants. Without the keepers the gun belt would/could simply fall to the ground, especially when the officer is running or doing anything else that involves moving. Therefore, officers normally utilize at least four keepers, two somewhere on the front and two on the back.

Belt keepers positioned between the two handcuff pouches

Well, you can clearly see that Ben has keepers on when he enters the building, but as he strips the gun belt before diving into the pool, guess what? Yep…no keepers. There’s no way he could drop the belt that quickly had the keepers been snapped into place in their normal position. However, it would have slowed the action had he stopped to unsnap the four keepers and then unhook the buckle in front. But, officers are able to do this rather quickly in real life. Don’t believe it? Try it after eating a Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast at 4am and see how quickly your gun belt comes off at 5am…

But, Ben rescues the girl, performs CPR and she lives. Sure, I said that as if the act were no big deal and you know why? Because this sort of thing does indeed happen every single day. I’ve done it and so have many other officers. In fact, I once performed CPR on a drug overdose victim, and forever after I was on the receiving end of Dewey-like teasing about locking lips with the unconscious, unresponsive guy. And he lived.

Actually, the man lived long enough for me to respond to a drunk and disorderly call a few months later where he was the drunk who, in fact, became more disorderly when he recognized me. Unfortunately for me, he, too, was a practical joker and planted a big wet kiss right on my lips just as I was about to snap on the cuffs. And I’ve never heard the end of that one to this day. However, unfortunately for the suspect, he died of a drug overdose a few weeks after “the kiss.” I wasn’t around that time for a second attempt at CPR.

Back to Lydia. She’s troubled about how the pregnancy will affect her job. She’s worried about being a mother. She’s worried that abortion may be the only answer to her troubles. And she’s worried about the girl who sliced her arm with a knife. She’s also worried about the girl’s mother who confessed to killing the man her daughter murdered. Lydia knows the mother confessed to protect her child. And Lydia finds peace with knowing that’s what being a mother is all about, doing whatever it takes to protect your child.

Yes, this episode was all about being a real cop. What they face each and every day. Call after call. Horror after horror. Pain, both physical and emotional. In uniform and out.

You know, there’s a reason why Regina King (Lydia) is an award-winning actor. And this show is part of that reason. She’s believable. I believe what she’s telling me and I believe her emotions. I believe her character cares for the suspects and victims on this show. I believe King because I’ve lived that life, and what she’s portraying is that life. And that’s what each of the Southland actors do. They make us believe.

What more could we ask of a TV show?

And they, as Tang said, “Never leave anyone behind.”

*Photos by TNT Television

Cops routinely find themselves under water. The best manage to keep their heads above the surface. But even for a strong swimmer like Ben Sherman the undertow can be tricky.

Ben finds himself in a situation where he’s surrounded by a large group of unruly young people. There’s bumping and shoving and name-calling. Things begin to get out of hand. He’s pushed by a young woman who he immediately places under arrest. Then, suddenly, another woman slaps Ben directly in his rookie face. What’d he do? How’d he react? Well, we had to wait until later in the episode to find out, but I, for one, knew exactly what he’d do. Yep. Been there, done that…sort of.

It’s an eye-opening moment for a young police officer when he’s assaulted for the first time. Sure, he trains and trains and trains for that moment, but nothing could prepare him for the shock that comes with being on the receiving end of a hearty face-slap, a punch, or a big ‘ol cheek-splattering wad of gooey saliva.

I remember that day, my “first time” and remember it well. I’d been on the streets, still very much a rookie, for approximately six months when I arrested a very petite young woman for a drug offense. She looked quite timid and sweet. Her hair was silky and she had eyes like a doe deer. Her hands were tiny. Her voice, soft like velvet. And her cheeks were rosy, like those of a China doll. And I recall thinking that, stupidly, I’d remove the cuffs while I questioned her. After all, what could that frail woman do to a big guy like me. Well, let me tell you, that sweet little doe-eyed %&^*$ slapped me into next week the second the cuffs came off. There was no pain, just a lot of really bright, white light and a ton of shock, surprise, and hope that no one saw her do it. Then came the swearing and spitting. Lots of spitting. She was doing the spitting but it was I who was doing the most cussing.

But it doesn’t end there. After that first shocking moment comes the next sweet little woman, or innocent liitle boy, a drug user down on his luck who robs a store to feed his kids and his habit, a poor elderly lady who shoplifts so she can eat, a drug crazed man who assaults his own parents, hungry kids, starving animals, guns, knives, a little girl…raped, murder after murder after murder. Mutilated bodies. Crying children…and yes, you soon find yourself underwater, struggling to keep your head above the surface.

There’s a new tough-as-nails captain this week, a captain who comes across during his welcome-to-my-shift-speech as wanting to kick ass first and take names later. But his ideas are sound ideas. They’re just plain good, old-fashioned police work—get out of your cars and walk, meet and talk to the people in your assigned areas, squeeze your snitches for information. Being proactive is what it’s all about. Don’t sit back and wait for crimes to happen. Stop them before they start.

The captain also passes out McDonald’s job applications to everyone, stating something like, “Each time you screw up fill out a line on your application.” He’s telling his troops that after a few goofs they’ll be needing new jobs because he won’t put up with many mistakes.

Lydia is called to work a hit and run case where all the team has to go on is a severed hand that’s still attached to a very expensive purse. After tracking down the suspect’s car, Detective Adams makes a gruesome discovery—body parts, including the head of the deceased, embedded among the radiator, water pump, and other mechanical parts located beneath the SUV.

Turns out the driver, a well-to-do citizen, had been driving drunk and claimed he thought he’d hit a coyote. He was promptly arrested and placed inside a patrol car where he immediately began to cry, the normal display of remorse that comes with a suspect’s realization that jail is in the immediate future. Funny how that remorse normally doesn’t appear until the cuffs go on.

Sammy and Ben decide to take the Captain’s advice and shake down a hooker for information, using a crack pipe they found in her purse as leverage to prompt her into cooperating. She gives up a little information and they allow her to go on her way.

I’m nearly convinced that these guys were cops in previous lives because the attention to detail in this show is incredible. Yes, that’s it’s done on the streets. It’s a day-in-day-out process of trying to stay one step ahead of the bad guys. And you do it by talking to people. Squeezing the snitches for information. and, as Lydia’s new partner will soon find out, by telling a few lies to get the information you need.

Lydia and Ruben, her new partner, are investigating a murder, an investigation that led them to home of the suspect’s grandmother, played by Marla Gibbs (Sorry, but I cannot see Ms. Gibbs without expecting to see George Jefferson come strutting around a corner. She’s a fine actor but she’ll always be Florence Johnston to me. But she looks fantastic, especially since she now 80). Hey, weren’t those two on 227? And wasn’t Adams’ character’s name Brenda on that show? A nice injection of humor, since “Brenda” was the name this little old lady kept calling Detective Adams.

Ruben appears a little shocked to learn that detectives sometimes must present a bit of false information when working a case. Still, he finds himself in a position where he might have to pull the trigger on the murder suspect, another unfortunate and unpleasant aspect of the job.

But Lydia solves that problem in a hurry by tackling the guy, an action that sends them both into a swimming pool (you see the ongoing theme, right?).

Ben appears to be a little on edge in this episode. Things just aren’t going his way. And that bit of bad luck continues when he chases a bad guy into a back yard where the thug swings a baseball bat, trying to hit a home run with Ben’s head. This scene is a familiar one to all street cops—a suspect hides inside a house, the homeowners and everyone inside tells the officers they haven’t seen the guy and they don’t know him. Then the guy pops up and runs. It’s like hearing a politician tell a lie…happens every single day.

Cooper and Tang (Lucy Liu is a great addition to this show, by the way) find themselves on the receiving end of the “odd” situations this week. We all have them, too. You know, the “Elvis-is-hiding-behind-the-cheesecake-in-my-refrigerator” type of calls.

1. The new partners roll up on a flaming pedestrian who’d ignited while smoking meth and watching porn in the back room of an “adult” store.

2. They roll up on a nude guy jogging along the sidewalk. Tang tells the guy it’s illegal to do that in the city, but it’s okay to run naked on the freeway. So he thanks her and heads onto an on-ramp. Tang turns to Cooper and says, “He’s CHP’s problem now.”

This scene may have seemed a bit silly to non-cops, but “back in the day,” and I’m not saying it’s right, I know of a few times when officers transported “unwanted problem people” to the next county and simply dropped them off.

3. A guys steps in front of Cooper and Tang’s patrol car and shouts, “I’m not going back to jail.” When Cooper steps out of the car the man tackles him. Tang jumps to Coop’s aid and begins to wail on the guy using her ASP (expandable baton). But it has no effect on the wild man.

Backup arrives (Dewey) and promptly deploys his Taser. The three of them finally subdue and cuff the guy.

Another realistic scene. I can’t tell you how many times cops are placed in this position, fighting to gain control of very strong and powerful people. And it sometimes takes two or three or more officers to subdue a combative suspect.

– Ben and Sammy respond to a call where an elderly woman fired a shot at her neighbor. When the officers approach the front door Ben thinks he sees a weapon and yells, “Gun!” and the two beat a hasty retreat to the safety of their patrol car. The woman fires a couple of rounds through the window and a standoff begins.

Captain Rucker arrives and he’s there with a plan. He pretends to be a preacher and approaches the door holding a Bible over his head, quoting scripture. But she’s not buying it, so Ben grabs the woman’s cat and offers to give it to her in exchange for her gun. She pretends to agree and lays down her rifle, but pulls out a secondary handgun. The captain promptly gives her a blast from his shotgun, terminating the threat who, by the way, was wearing body armor.

Several years ago, I was faced with a similar situation. I was at home watching TV when I suddenly heard shouting outside. I opened the front door and saw three patrol cars, lights flashing, and five or six uniformed officers crouching down behind them. Now, my across-the-street neighbors were elderly. Very nice people. So I was a bit puzzled until I saw the man on their front porch who was aiming a revolver at the man who lived there. A closer look told me that the suspect was actually the homeowner’s son, a guy I knew to have a pretty bad drug problem. Later I learned that the son had come by and asked for money, and when his parents refused he pulled the gun and began making threats.

Well, I knew the son, had encounters with him in the past (a few minor arrests, etc.) so I walked over to patrol officers to see what I could do to help out. By the way, I was wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and no shoes. I was in for the night. Comfortable.

Anyway, I called out to the guy. He promptly told me to F-off. And that really didn’t set well with me. Neither did the look of terror on the old couple’s faces. So I did a dumb thing. I walked up to the porch and headed straight for the suspect. He started to turn toward me but, before he even realized what I was doing, I, well, let’s just say only a second passed before I had the gun and he was lying on the porch floor. After it was over I realized what a totally stupid thing I’d done. Hell, I didn’t even have a gun with me.

The point I’m trying to make with this anecdotal babble is that the things you see on Southland, no matter how “out there” they seem to you, are quite real. This stuff happens in real life. While you’re at work or at home sleeping, cops are doing what you see on this show.

And that, my friends, brings us back to Ben and the young woman who slapped him. Well, Ben, feeling overwhelmed by the crowd that was closing in on him and, because the woman had landed a blow to his cheek and to his ego and, because he’d never experienced this before, well, he punched the woman squarely in her face. Right on the snoot with a closed fist.

The scene was captured on video, of course, and Ben is called into the captain’s office to explain his actions, and Sammy defends him.

Outside, Ben thanks Sammy for sticking up for him. Sammy, the experienced cop, says, “You always have your partner’s back…” Ben smiles. But Sammy then completes his statement. “…even when he’s wrong. You kinda lost your cool. We don’t fire back because we’re mad, we fire back to save lives.”

What a powerful and very true statement. Saving lives is the name of the game, no matter how hard you have to paddle to keep your head above water.

Yes, Ben has filled in the first line of his McDonald’s application. But we all do. We’re human.

* This is the best darn cop show to ever hit a TV screen. And all I can say is, “You go Cheo Coker. You write one fine police story.” The same goes for the all the writers. And my hat’s off to the crew and directors as well. And a big nod to the actors who go above and beyond to show their audience a side to police work that’s not usually seen…the truth.