On March 11, 1989, Cops, a documentary-style television series
that follows police officers and sheriff’s deputies as they go
about their jobs, debuted on Fox. Cops went on to become one
of the longest-running shows in television history. It went off
the air in 2020.

The show, which was created by John Langley and Malcolm
Barbour, was a pioneer in reality television. Crews with
camcorders followed law enforcement officers on patrol,
tracking down suspects and making arrests. The show was
unscripted, which worked in Langley and Barbour’s favor
when they pitched the original concept to Fox: At the time,
there was a writers’ strike in Hollywood, and the network
needed new programming that wouldn’t require writers.

In 1989, the debut episode of Cops featured the men and
women of the Broward County Sheriff’s Department in
Florida. The show

aired over 1,000 episodes and filmed in 140 U.S. cities, as
well as international locations including London and Hong
Kong. With its widely recognized theme song, “Bad Boys”
by the reggae group Inner Circle, Cops had spawned
numerous imitators in addition to parody shows.

Malcolm Barbour

John Russell Langley
(June 1, 1943 – June 26, 2021

PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Multnomah County is set to swear
in its first female sheriff  Wednesday.

Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell was elected by voters in May. She
currently serves as undersheriff and will be replacing outgoing
Sheriff Mike Reese, who is leaving the position due to term limits.

O’Donnell will become the 41st sheriff of Multnomah County, and
the first woman to serve in the role.

She grew up in Clatskanie, Oregon and moved to the Portland area
to attend the University of Portland. She was first hired as a
corrections deputy with the sheriff’s office in 1996.

James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876)

“Wild Bill” Hickok, one of the greatest gunfighters of the
American West, was murdered in Deadwood, South Dakota
while  playing poker when Jack McCall walked up behind
Hickok,drew his Colt Model 1873 revolver and shot Hickok
in the back of the head at point-blank range, killing him
instantly.

McCall was hanged in a public execution in
Yankton, at age 24.

Colt Model 1873 revolver.

The poker hand purportedly held by Hickok at his demise.

Shaaron Claridge (born Shaaron Lee Cooper; later Snead) (October 1, 1938 – September 15, 2021)

Claridge was a second-shift radiotelephone operator or police radio dispatcher at the Van Nuys Division of the Los Angeles Police Department best known for her voice work on the Adam-12 TV
series. Her husband was an LAPD motorcycle officer.

Following Milner’s death on September 6, 2015, Claridge broadcast
the "End of Watch" transmission over the LAPD radio recognizing Milner’s performance as Officer Pete Malloy in Adam-12.

Kent McCord as Officer James A. Reed, and Martin Milner as Officer Peter J. Malloy. The TV  series ran on NBC from 1968
to 1975 when it was cancelled.