Pet peeves about flashlights and cop shows

[jgradyc]

One of my pet peeves about cop shows is how they use flashlights and guns.  I'm watching the season opener of the mentalist (SPOILER ALERT!) and Lisbon does all the following.

 

• Responds to an anonymous phone call about a person whose life is in danger without telling anyone.
• Goes in the house without backup.
• Doesn't turn on the lights. Just uses a cr*ppy light that only puts a 4 foot circle on the wall. Come on! I have a AAA keychain light that puts out more light than that! This just drives me nuts on TV shows.
• Holds the flashlight up by her head with her handgun pushed out in front of her, easily swept aside by someone hiding behind an object.
• Of course, her finger is on the trigger.
• She never sweeps a room when she enters.
• Then, if it couldn't get any worse, she goes into the basement. Hello... has no one ever watched Psycho?!?? The bad guys are always in the basement.

I could tell you the rest, but at this point, I'm thinking... somebody just shoot this woman and bring in a smarter cop! The ending is as clichéd as everything else so just imagine your own ending.  /rant off

[UncleJak]

I bet her gun holds 30 rounds too.

Sent barefoot from the hills of Tennessee

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

Its a TV show...

 

Its not Real Life... :)

 

I think people simply just overanalyze shows.

[maroonandwhite]

Chambering a round before every big encounter gets me the worst.

[RobertNashville]

What pisses me off are people who get pissed off about TV shows not being like real life...I mean...come on...if we wanted real life we would turn off the stupid TV and do something real, right???   ;)

[maroonandwhite]

What pisses me off are people who get pissed off about TV shows not being like real life...I mean...come on...if we wanted real life we would turn off the stupid TV and do something real, right???   ;)

Hey if I were paying $150 a month for TV I would want it to be right!  :rofl:

[Guest nra37922]

Its a TV show...

 

Its not Real Life... :)

 

I think people simply just overanalyze shows.

Unfortunately there are a LOT of folks that buy into this BS.  All you have to listen to lawyers bemoan the CSI effect on juries.

[Jesse]

Only cop show I watch is Cops. And they rarely use their guns.

[BigK]

I heard a cop on Sleepy Hollow last night un-cock her Glock when she realized the threat was over.

[jtmaze]

I have heard several glocks "coccked" over the years.

[Oh Shoot]

I have heard several glocks "coccked" over the years.

 

Some don't lock open when empty but simply go click click click too, I've learned.

 

- OS

[RobertNashville]

Only cop show I watch is Cops. And they rarely use their guns.

I watch cops...love that show.

 

I do have to limit how much I watch though as it's easy to get depressed when I see just how incredibly stupid people can be; it would make me fear for our country's future it I wasn't already afraid for our country's future!

[Dustbuster]

Flashlights = Big round target for bad guys to aim at at night time.subject to debate

[jtmaze]

Flashlights = Big round target for bad guys to aim at at night time.subject to debate

There are  classes on how to use a flashlight in a tactical situation.

[Spiffy]

Some don't lock open when empty but simply go click click click too, I've learned.

 

- OS

 

Doesn't the SIRT trigger do that for dry fire training?

 

 

 

I think it's the lack of a subject matter expert and the actor does what they want to.

[tnguy]

It wouldn't surprise me if the flashlights were rigged to be dim to avoid problems with the cameras. The corollary is that it's often possible to see fine even with a complete lack of light sources.

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HollywoodDarkness

Edited October 8, 2013 by tnguy

[Timestepper]

One of my pet peeves about cop shows is how they use flashlights and guns.  I'm watching the season opener of the mentalist (SPOILER ALERT!) and Lisbon does all the following.

 

• Responds to an anonymous phone call about a person whose life is in danger without telling anyone. Hey, she's the boss and it's obvious that she doesn't want to someone to make fun of her if she screws up.
• Goes in the house without backup. Hey, she's the leader and obviously doesn't want to unnecessarily endanger another team member.
• Doesn't turn on the lights. Just uses a cr*ppy light that only puts a 4 foot circle on the wall. Come on! I have a AAA keychain light that puts out more light than that! This just drives me nuts on TV shows. She's obviously a trained professional who ingests massive amounts of carotene, giving her the advantage over some junk food eating bad guy who actually needs adequate illumination to take out the good guy/gal.
• Holds the flashlight up by her head with her handgun pushed out in front of her, easily swept aside by someone hiding behind an object. Obviously a ruse on her part to lure the bad guy into a false sense of security and superiority - as he moves to sweep her weapon away she cracks him over the head with her flashlight. (It's patently obvious that no harm can come to the flashlight by doing this since it's such a crappy little f*cker anyway that it can't be rendered less useless than it already is.)
• Of course, her finger is on the trigger. Which of course makes it harder for the bad guy to knock it out of her hand before she has the chance to whack him with the aforementioned crappy little flashlight.
• She never sweeps a room when she enters. Of course not! Sweeping rooms is the set designer's department.  (Besides, I'm pretty sure the bad guys are hiding in the basement.)
• Then, if it couldn't get any worse, she goes into the basement. Hello... has no one ever watched Psycho?!?? The bad guys are always in the basement. (Oooooh, I was right - the bad guys are in the basement!)  Helloooo-ooo! How can she get the bad guys if she doesn't go into the basement where they're hiding? Heck, all she's got to work with is a crappy little flashlight and a soon to be broken trigger finger - what's she supposed to do, nuke 'em?

I could tell you the rest, but at this point, I'm thinking... somebody just shoot this woman and bring in a smarter cop! The ending is as clichéd as everything else so just imagine your own ending.  /rant off Ummm... Hello? The smarter cops are all out doing smarter stuff, which is probably why she didn't call for backup in the first place - she knew no one was dumb enough to come with her. As to imagining my own ending - I'd like to think that on my 103rd birthday I'll be shot by the jealous husband of a 24 year old Playboy Centerfold (Which sounds good enough to me that I couldn't give two sh*ts about what happened on the Mentalist).

Hope this helped.

 

...TS...

[RED333]

:popcorn:

[bersaguy]

I have tried not to watch to many police programs because like most have said in every one of them you can critique at least 50 things that done in real life would get the a police officer killed. Before i slowed down my watching activity and moved to the History and Discovery channels I did have one issue that drove me bananas and that was when when anyone good guy or bad guy picks up a pump shotgun they will pump the action but never look to see if it's loaded but they assume it is. Then when they reached the entry point where they may have to actually use the gun they pump the action again and no cartridge ejects out of the gun that they pumped in 5 minutes earlier and the guy with the shot gun has never been out of view of the camera. I hate shotgun scenes.............. :puke:  :puke: 

[frankmako]

cocking and un-cocking of guns every time they put their hand on the gun, no matter the type of gun.  racking in a round before using the auto.  finger on the trigger.  

[10-Ring]

Hmm, my pet peeve concerning cops and flashlights is when the cop keeps shining the thing right in my eyes after he has determined that I'm not a threat to him.