After only three episodes, the ABC News series ``NYPD 24-7'' has infuriated a firefighter union and annoyed officials at the New York Police Department. Even Mayor Michael Bloomberg has weighed in by panning the performance of one of ``New York's Finest.''
Publicly, police officials have taken no position on the show, which was distilled from 16 months of footage shot by film crews who shadowed detectives and other officers as they investigated murders and fought urban crime.
But one high-ranking commander said Thursday that the brass has been ``less than thrilled'' so far with the bleep-happy series. The sight of detectives cursing and smoking cigars while investigating a stabbing - where no one died - has raised eyebrows at the nation's largest police department.
Firefighters have focused their ire on a former Emergency Service Unit lieutenant, Venton ``Vic'' Hollifield.
With the cameras rolling at the scene of a car crash two years ago, the now-retired Hollifield referred to firefighters there as ``amateurs.'' Once the show aired, the union paid more than $100,000 for full-page ads in newspapers alleging the comment ``demeaned, slandered and belittled'' firefighters before a national audience, and demanded an apology from Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly for sanctioning the show.
A spokesman for Kelly, Paul Browne, called Hollifield's comments ``regrettable.'' But he added that ABC's ``unfettered'' access was never subject to official review - a point further proven by Hollifield while he makes a traffic stop of a suspected drunken driver.
As recounted on the show's Web site, the officer flouted patrol guidelines by making the motorist get out the car and then locking his keys inside and telling him to catch a cab home. The encounter ultimately ended with officers having to wrestle the enraged suspect to the ground and arrest him.
At City Hall, Bloomberg called Hollifield's comments about firefighters ``wrong,'' and suggested Hollifield - not Kelly - needed to apologize.
Hollifield hasn't. Nor has ABC, which considers the show a commercial and critical success.
The series' point ``was to go in and explore a closed culture, the NYPD police culture, and see life as it happens,'' said producer Terrence Wrong. ``If you have faith in your institution, you have no problem with that.''
One positive note for the NYPD: Another commander who has viewed the entire docu-series says future episodes - including one featuring Kelly - won't embarrass anyone.
``The worst is over,'' he said.
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