Pierce County Council split on sheriff’s department being featured on 'Cops'

The Pierce County Sheriff's Department will be featured on the next season of the reality television show “Cops,” and county officials are split on whether or not this will help the department in its recruitment efforts.

KING 5 first reported on the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department being featured on the next season of the long-running show. The department told KING 5 that being on the show could help the department attract recruits.

Last December, Deputy Jeff Papen said that the Pierce County Sheriff's Office is one of the lowest staffed departments in the country.

At that time, the county had 771 full-time employees related to public safety. The county's law enforcement branch saw the number of positions drop from 414 FTEs in the 2022-2023 budget year to 402 set for the 2024-2025 budget year. For context, neighboring King County, Washington state’s most populated county, had 1,125 positions in its sheriff's department at the same time.

The prospect of Pierce County deputies being on "Cops" has drawn mixed reactions from members of the Pierce County Council.

Council Chair Ryan Mello said he is skeptical that the show can help the county attract professionals needed to improve safety in the region and is instead a distraction.

“What the show 'Cops' does is take isolated incidents and creates a perception that this kind of violent crime is happening all across the county. It is not,” Mello told The Center Square in an email. “This takes away from all the work we are doing to make this a great place to do business, work and raise a family.”

Mello mentioned the county council’s previous work to compensate sheriff's deputies and invest in recruitment and retention bonuses as better ways to recruit and retain deputies.

On the other side of the argument, Pierce County Councilmember Amy Cruver views the sheriff's department's presence on the show as “an ideal opportunity” to showcase what deputies deal with during a routine patrol.

Cruver said that the show is informative and that viewers can see the issues facing the county and come up with their own opinions and potential solutions based on what "Cops" showcases.

“Portraying reality is not exploiting those in a troubled season of life; it’s informative to the public,” Cruver emailed The Center Square. “Perhaps this kind of publicity will spur more ideas for dealing with dangerous or hazardous situations, validate the need to review current laws for ones that will better protect the public, hold the lawless accountable, and prioritize the need for effective services to address mental health concerns.”

The sheriff's office did not respond to The Center Square’s request for comment by the time of publication.