C.S. ... I Don't Think So!

Emmy Award winning TV producer Jerry Bruckheimer has let me down. He's let all of us down.

For years we've been riveted by his prime time programs: The CSI franchise based in Miami, Las Vegas and New York, Cold Case, Without a Trace and others. I am one of Bruckheimer's biggest fans.

But on a recent episode of CSI Miami, Bruckheimer's quality control broke down. He allowed his writers to get away with poetic license that could seriously damage law enforcement efforts.

In an episode called "The Tipping Point" a thug declares of his 'hood, "God gave up on this neighborhood a long time ago." And, indeed, we learn the population has been scared into silence by the violent actions of the local gang. But then a do-gooder named Reverend Mike is murdered. Investigators are stymied until one brave young person calls Crime Stoppers with vital information.

This is a wonderful message for those urban numbskulls who still think cooperating with police is "snitching."

But what do Bruckheimer's writers have the authorities say when they learn there is a Crime Stoppers tip? Are they thankful? No.

"Those people are just trying to make a buck off the county. Can we trust them?" one ignorant character asks another.

Within minutes we see the tipster, a worried young woman named Yolanda, exiting an elevator at police headquarters asking, "So, you can guarantee no one will know I'm the one who called?" And she is reassured by the lead detective that all tips are confidential. Later, as the officer scrolls through a computer list of other Crime Stopper calls (and we clearly see a roster of names and address) another CSI dumbbell dismissively questions the detective's action saying, "The tip line? I thought it was mostly crackpots!"

Now, if any of the program's writers bothered to check facts, they would have found that Crime Stoppers is nothing like they described. First, the reward fund is 100% donated from civilian sources and takes no county, state or federal money. Doing so would require a paper trail no one wants. Why? Because all tips are strictly confidential! No one would ever ask for a caller's name or address and that information is never stored on some computerized master list. When someone with a tip phones Crime Stoppers they are given a unique tipster ID number and told to keep calling back to see if they are due a reward check.

For CSI Miami to show tipster Yolanda being outed and brought into a public cop shop is impossible. It would never happen.

And, so what occurs next in the episode is completely inconceivable. Somehow the street gang finds out Yolanda has been talking to police. She's hog-tied and left inside a building that's about to be obliterated by a massive bomb. She's saved at the last minute because the lead character, Horatio Caine, pulls a Dudley Do Right.

The lesson left from this CSI Miami episode was that if you snitch, you're in danger. If you talk to the police about a crime, the bad guy will find out and get you. If you're lame enough to call Crime Stoppers you must be a "crackpot". How many young people saw that episode and lodged that lesson in their brain? And I'll bet it's not just Crime Stopper personnel who cringed at the program. Good detectives everywhere welcome anonymous tips, especially in murder cases. They've already got to fight the rap-music message that "snitchin' ain't cool." They don't need a popular primetime TV show (dedicated to crime fighting, no less!) helping spread that self-destructive line.

Look, I'm a writer. I value the First Amendment, character development and all that. What I don't value is lazy writing that leaves the wrong impression when the real facts are so compelling.

As I, coincidentally, wrote in this space recently, Crime Stoppers has been in existence for more than 30 years. Its success is directly attributed to good citizens who do the right thing. In the U.S., more than 800 thousand cases, like murder, rape, armed robbery and child molestation have been cleared thanks to Crime Stopper tipsters. More than a billion dollars in property has been recovered, 4 billion dollars worth of illegal drugs.

At the end of the CSI episode the bad guys are busted because Yolanda picked up a phone. She got a thousand dollar reward after her information led to arrests. That's a scenario CSI got right. It happens every day in all 50 states and 24 countries where Crime Stoppers operates.

Come on, Hollywood. You don't have to make it up. Just follow the facts -- especially when you're dealing with something as crucial as Crime Stoppers. And please, Jerry Bruckheimer, don't re-run that episode!

Diane Dimond's web site is: www.DianeDimond.net Reach her: [e-mail]

Comments

[DRaymond]

Of all the CSI shows Miami is without doubt the least realistic of a generally unrealistic lot.

[mulegino]

As a model for law enforcement, I'll take the Mayberry Jail over the CSI crime lab any day of the week!

[MajorKong]

I wouldn't take the show too seriously.

CSI Miami takes place in some strange alternate universe where no unattractive people exist and police detectives and medical examiners all prefer cleavage-revealing outfits (not that I'm against cleavage, mind you).

[Diane Dimond - Huffpost Blogger]

Major Kong - Boy you hit the nail on the head! I never saw a semi-attractive woman on that show...or a woman who wasn't wearing an outfit that seemed totally inappropriate in its low neckline or stiletto heels at a crime scene! ~ DD

[Dukedraven]

I never take those CSI shows seriously. Caruso always seems to doing a poor man's Steve McGarrett (Hawaii Five-O). It's too bad that some people really assume it's all accurate.

[Diane Dimond - Huffpost Blogger]

Dukedraven: I hear that David Caruso has carefully crafted his character on the show. But if I were him I might ask for some more meaningful lines, something other than the glib one liners they give him. And, why does he always seem to be looking people from the side - never face on? Kinda Odd. ~DD

[Leper]

The lesson I got from watching CSI: Miami was: don't watch CSI: Miami.

[M1]

It is one of the worst shows all the way around. David Caruso just adds to the misery.

[kellygrrrl]

just for the record, my pick of most underrated show: Friday Night Lights

and I'm not a fan of TX or football

[Diane Dimond - Huffpost Blogger]

Kellygrrrl - Cannot disagree with you on that one! ~ DD

[tantan75]

I hate to point out that sometimes witnesses are killed. That is why there is a Witness Protection Program. I would be very hesitant to tip police. Police lie all the time. They could promise you anonymity, but go back on their promies as soon as it doesn't suit their case. It should be about informed consent. You should know that participating as a witness could possibly put you or your family at risk, depending on the suspects of course. It is not our responsibilty to make cases for the state. They need to investigate, and gather evidence. If it's not enough without me sacrificing my own safety, then they're S.O.L.

[Diane Dimond - Huffpost Blogger]

TanTan75 - Well, I hear what your saying but I must add that if you live in a crime plagued neighborhood - your attitude is adding to it. If good people don't come forward and tell what they know to investigators then what will they have to investigate? You want to send them out blind and them complain because they cannot see?
I'm also sorry you did not pick up the bottom line to Crime Stoppers. If you see a crime, or learn some information that could help police catch a criminal (and make your neighborhood safer) all you do is pick up the phone and speak. No one will ask you your name. Your phone number is guaranteed to NOT be traced. Its just like writing an anonymous letter, making sure there are no fingerprints and no return address. They will NEVER know who you are.
Got it?

[kellygrrrl]

CSI Miami is one of the only Bruckheimer shows I simply cannot watch.

[tantan75]

I agree. I can't stand David Caruso, or his character. Or his sunglasses for that matter.

[hopefull2008]

Ditto !

[kellygrrrl]

if I was in the mood to spell correctly, I would have mentioned the Silhouettes --

[GAPriebe]

Not to correct Diane, but...the bad guys found out about the "tipster" because she was giving information to the authorities at the behest of a gang member who wanted to use her as a conduit for information. Why would one assume that the police betrayed "Yolanda"?

[Diane Dimond - Huffpost Blogger]

You're right - there was a gang member in the plot ... but I didn't mention it because I only have so many words I can use - and it didn't matter to my main point.
That being, the caller (Yolanda) was somehow KNOWN to police in the program. And, furthermore she was brought in to the station, no less!! That would never, never happen. They betrayed her in the show because they, in effect, outed her.

[LiberalBuzz]

THANK YOU.

I saw the same episode and realized they were really doing a disservice. But since you have a voice I am glad you brought it up. The writers were indeed lazy and have done so in the past. But this transgression was one of the worst.

It essentially said calling the police to report a crime is as dangerous as just going on TV and talking about it then gong home.

Something else they do (sort of off topic) but is just as much of product of lazy writing is the so called, "Get the computer to take that totally blurry image and make it completely sharp. I remember one show where they took a photograph and actually got a photograph that was on the mantle IN the photo and sharpened it up to show us who the real crooks were.

IMPOSSIBLE.

So thank you again for bringing that episode up. There are others that have done the same.

[Diane Dimond - Huffpost Blogger]

Liberal Buzz - And how about when they take, like, a side shot of a car and with their computer they somehow get ALL the numbers on a license plate? Geometry tells you that from a side shot SOME of the numbers/letters would not be visible. I'm with you .... but THAT kind of poetic license is less offensive to me than giving the COMPLETELY wrong premise for something as important as Crime Stoppers. Geez, I just had to say something. And ironically, just a couple of weeks earlier I'd given my Crime Fighter Hero of the Year award to the founder of Crime Stoppers, Greg MacAleese. When I saw that CSI-Miami episode just a short time later I cringed and had to write about the program again. Glad you enjoyed it! ~DD