Police Tapes

Audience Reviews

View All (3) audience reviews

Audience Member The Police Tapes is a 1977 documentary about a police precinct in the South Bronx. The original ran ninety minutes and was produced for public television; a one-hour version later aired on ABC. It won two Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, and a DuPont-Columbia University Award for Broadcast Journalism, and became an influence on later television and film dramas. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member The true story of the officers who serve in the 44th precinct in New York's highest crime area, the south Bronx. Essentially a blueprint for Fox's "Cops" but without the value add of the Inner Circle theme song. We get the whole range of police activity, from an apartment building disturbance from a dispute over slamming doors to a robbery homicide that goes cold. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member Gritty documentary observes the incidents of the crime-plagued 44th South Bronx Precinct in the summer of 1975 by way of a black & white handheld camera. Probably packed a significant punch at the time as this predates the true police shows like COPS. A wide range of crimes, often violent, are accounted for which gives an appreciation of what the overwhelmed cop on the beat faces in this precinct. Reportedly influenced HILL STREET BLUES and FORT APACHE, THE BRONX. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Police Tapes

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW