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From The Birmingham News
Reality show to follow city detectives
Tuesday, February 13, 2007CAROL ROBINSONNews staff writer
MTV made Hoover High School football a household name. Now Birmingham Police will hit the small screen, giving A&E Network unprecedented access to record a season of Magic City crime.
Birmingham episodes of "The First 48," entering its sixth season, could air as early as June. The show follows detectives in various cities as they track killers.
The show's premise: For homicide detectives, the clock starts ticking the moment they are called. Their chance of solving a case is cut in half if they don't get a lead in the first 48 hours.
Though episode titles are provocative, such as "Party's Over," "Stripper's Revenge" and "The Wrong Side of the Tracks," senior series producer Wendy Greene said the show's mission is to show the gritty side of detective work.
"I think people are interested in what goes on behind the scenes in a homicide investigation," Greene said. "There are a lot of shows that give fictional accounts, and people want to see the real life part of it. It's a lot of hard work, knocking on doors and good old fashioned police work, and that's what we're following them doing."
The show airs 8 p.m. Central time on Thursdays. The current season, which runs from January through March, is following detectives in Miami, Memphis, Dallas, Kansas City and Detroit.
The crew will arrive in Birmingham this week, and film for a minimum of 15 weeks. The contract allows them to stay as long as a year. Though Birmingham Police Chief Annetta Nunn said, "My hope is they don't have a lot to follow us around on," that's not likely.
The city finished 2006 with 109 homicides, and so far there have been 11 this year.
Nunn said the department decided to participate to show viewers the importance of community help in solving crimes. One of detectives' chief complaints in Birmingham is that citizens with vital information more often than not fail to come forward.
"It gives people a chance to see why time is critical in gathering information and why they need to get it to us as soon as possible," Nunn said.
Though the show touts unprecedented access to crime scenes, autopsies, forensic processing and interrogations, police said they will have a say in the final editing. "The integrity of the investigation will be key," Nunn said. "We won't allow anything to compromise an investigation."
It's likely the show will be aired before some of the cases featured come to trial. Efforts to reach District Attorney David Barber for comment Monday were unsuccessful, but police said he has signed off on the project.
Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner Jay Glass said his office hasn't been contacted by the show's producers, but autopsies in their office won't be for public consumption.
"It's not something we would consider," Glass said.
Birmingham homicide Sgt. Cory Hardiman said detectives are on board with the show.
"It will give the public an opportunity to see what it takes to investigate these cases," he said, "Maybe give them a better understanding of what we have to go through."
E-mail: crobinson@bhamnews.com
Reality show to follow city detectives
Tuesday, February 13, 2007CAROL ROBINSONNews staff writer
MTV made Hoover High School football a household name. Now Birmingham Police will hit the small screen, giving A&E Network unprecedented access to record a season of Magic City crime.
Birmingham episodes of "The First 48," entering its sixth season, could air as early as June. The show follows detectives in various cities as they track killers.
The show's premise: For homicide detectives, the clock starts ticking the moment they are called. Their chance of solving a case is cut in half if they don't get a lead in the first 48 hours.
Though episode titles are provocative, such as "Party's Over," "Stripper's Revenge" and "The Wrong Side of the Tracks," senior series producer Wendy Greene said the show's mission is to show the gritty side of detective work.
"I think people are interested in what goes on behind the scenes in a homicide investigation," Greene said. "There are a lot of shows that give fictional accounts, and people want to see the real life part of it. It's a lot of hard work, knocking on doors and good old fashioned police work, and that's what we're following them doing."
The show airs 8 p.m. Central time on Thursdays. The current season, which runs from January through March, is following detectives in Miami, Memphis, Dallas, Kansas City and Detroit.
The crew will arrive in Birmingham this week, and film for a minimum of 15 weeks. The contract allows them to stay as long as a year. Though Birmingham Police Chief Annetta Nunn said, "My hope is they don't have a lot to follow us around on," that's not likely.
The city finished 2006 with 109 homicides, and so far there have been 11 this year.
Nunn said the department decided to participate to show viewers the importance of community help in solving crimes. One of detectives' chief complaints in Birmingham is that citizens with vital information more often than not fail to come forward.
"It gives people a chance to see why time is critical in gathering information and why they need to get it to us as soon as possible," Nunn said.
Though the show touts unprecedented access to crime scenes, autopsies, forensic processing and interrogations, police said they will have a say in the final editing. "The integrity of the investigation will be key," Nunn said. "We won't allow anything to compromise an investigation."
It's likely the show will be aired before some of the cases featured come to trial. Efforts to reach District Attorney David Barber for comment Monday were unsuccessful, but police said he has signed off on the project.
Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner Jay Glass said his office hasn't been contacted by the show's producers, but autopsies in their office won't be for public consumption.
"It's not something we would consider," Glass said.
Birmingham homicide Sgt. Cory Hardiman said detectives are on board with the show.
"It will give the public an opportunity to see what it takes to investigate these cases," he said, "Maybe give them a better understanding of what we have to go through."
E-mail: crobinson@bhamnews.com
