‘On Patrol: Live’ wants to feature Roswell police officers

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The producers of “On Patrol: Live” are going after the Roswell Police Department.

“Since I’ve been here, Roswell’s been approached no less than three times by these police shows that want to come do ride-alongs and do footage and put us on TV,” said Roswell Police Department Chief Philip Smith.

During a Public Safety Committee meeting earlier this week, the chief explained why, in the past, he said no.

“The hitch has always been that I won’t allow them to just have free access to the video,” Smith said.

However, now, he’s interested in the feature.

“You have 24 hours to redact and change the footage, if we don’t like it or not allow it to be released. They are as restricted as the media is. That means they can’t enter somebody’s house. They can’t – if there’s any victims or informants used, it’s all gonna be taken out of the video will be removed,” Smith said. “I think it’s an outstanding opportunity to showcase the police department here and how professional we are, and I wouldn’t want anybody near us if that wasn’t the case.”

The chief also said Roswell’s contract would mirror the one BCSO had for the show.

KOB 4 did hear from Jeanine Corn-Best, vice-chair of the Roswell Public Safety Committee, and the only member who did not vote for the department to be featured.

“We like our little town, we like the tourism. We don’t want to shed the light on the negative of Roswell, we want to shine the light on the positive,” Corn-Best said. “Me personally, I feel that is a danger to the citizens, and because these folks are going to be interrupting with a serious job that is necessary to keep our citizens safe.”

This comes just three weeks after BCSO paused its participation on the show, to allow the new sheriff and his administration to make a smooth transition.

A BCSO rep told KOB 4 he would circle back to it in the spring.

“It will now go from public safety to legal for the attorney and his assistant, the assistant attorney to go through their contract and nitpick it and decide what they want to do,” Corn-Best said.

The City of Roswell’s legal committee will decide if the decision goes to the city council or stops there.

Note: “On Patrol: Live” airs on Reelz, which is owned by KOB 4’s parent company, Hubbard Broadcasting.