Riding shotgun: On Patrol: Live

CUT TO: A sheriff cruiser, lights flashing, races down Clements Ferry Road in pursuit of a reckless driver.

 

CUT TO: A police officer arrives at the scene of an apparent machete attack. 

 

These are real-life videos depicting members of the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) hunting down local lawbreakers and investigating crimes. County residents, and nationwide viewers, can get an inside look at these day-to-day law enforcement experiences through the hit television show, “On Patrol: Live.” 

 

Blending reality and law enforcement, “On Patrol: Live” features ride-alongs and real-life criminal encounters handled by various agencies across the country, including the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office. 

 

Hosted and executive produced by Dan Abrams, the series is a revival of A&E’s canceled “Live PD.” Since it first aired in July 2022, the show has been a significant contributor to Reelz’s rising ratings, with a remarkable 34% increase in total viewers in 2023, the most of any network in the top 50, according to Variety.

 

“I’ve always installed transparency in this agency, and now viewers get to see how our deputies interact with people,” Berkeley County Sheriff Duane Lewis said. “We’re not just sitting around, we’re out here being proactive, patrolling the neighborhoods and businesses and getting to the calls as fast as possible. People get to see we’re doing what we said we were going to do.”

 

Airing every Friday and Saturday at 9 p.m., “On Patrol: Live” showcases deputies facing various situations, from routine traffic stops to high-stakes criminal investigations. Different sergeants and corporals take center stage each weekend as cameras capture their unscripted patrols across the county.

 

The department does not get paid for its involvement in the show, Lewis said.

 

One memorable incident of the show’s second season involved Corporal Carli Drayton who said she tased a man who allegedly domestically assaulted his girlfriend in front of the deputies and camera crew. 

 

The department received a 911 hang up call for a wedding party of nearly 200 people who had been drinking, and the caller wanted to go home but her boyfriend didn’t want to leave, Drayton explained.

 

“Finally I’m talking to him and I get him out of the car, but he goes around to her side and starts assaulting her! I mean like, going crazy. He punched her in the face, like, 10 times so I tased him. Then everyone from the wedding party came out and they were hooting and hollering and going crazy.” 

 

In tradition with reality TV, the show’s camera crew follows along for the chase. Sergeant Paul Yacobozzi recounts a heart-pounding pursuit when a U-Haul truck was stuck on train tracks. 

 

As the team of deputies handled the truck, Yacobozzi said the railroad signal was green, indicating an oncoming train. He called the rail company in an attempt to stop the train, but that didn’t stop it from nearly plowing them down, the sergeant said.

 

“It was like in the movies, when you can’t see the train but you can hear it and you’re like, ‘Holy smokes, we’ve got to get off the tracks!’ Literally as we’re getting off, the train comes by and looks like it’s going in slow motion when really it’s going probably 60 miles an hour. Me and the camera guy looked at each other and we’re like, ‘Did that really just happen?’”

 

Drayton said that although there is a celebrity factor to the show, the true intent of the series and the county’s participation is to increase transparency between the Berkeley County law enforcement and the community. 

 

“People might think they know what we do, but until they see this show, they actually have no idea how the sheriff’s office is run and what kind of calls we deal with,” she said. “[Until they see the show], they don’t really get to see how stressful and intense the job is because there’s no edits, there’s no cuts. Whatever they’re seeing on TV, that’s exactly how it happened. This is the only profession where you have to make the split-second decision and you have to be right.”

 

As the show continues to document the adventures of the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office, the success of “On Patrol: Live” has been reaffirmed with Reelz recently ordering another 90 episodes, ensuring that the weekend franchise remains on the network through January 2025. 

 

Reelz CEO Stan E. Hubbard expressed enthusiasm about the show’s renewal in an online statement, saying, “We are thrilled to renew the program for another year and to see viewers come together on Friday and Saturday nights as “On Patrol: Live” chronicles police on patrol in communities across America.”

 

Tune into the Reelz channel every Friday and Saturday night from 9 p.m. to midnight ET to watch county deputies live on the front lines of local crime. 

 

You can also stream it on platforms like Peacock, Amazon Prime, The Roku Channel, PLEX, Sling TV, and Philo.