Cops

– ( CLATTERING ) – Heads up!

I smoked some marijuana! I'm a marijuana smoker!

Hands up! Hands up!

Hold it! Hold it! Hold it! Hold it!

"Cops" is filmed on location...

...with the men and women of law enforcement.

All suspects are innocent until proven guilty...

...in a court of law.

I moved out here from Michigan about 12 years ago...

...with the ambitions of bein' an officer.

I never got to serve in the military, so I figured...

...this is my way of giving back to the community.

J and I are on the Neighborhood Response Squad.

Our squad''s very proactive as far as, um, trying...

...to stop the... the drugs coming into the community.

We're tryin' to catch up with a couple guys on bikes...

...who were just kind of ridin' in the middle of the road.

Oh. They just went down this street right up here,

...so, try to get them to stop.

You better stop, dude!

Put it down! Put it down!

– Put it down! – Put it down, now!

Get down on the ground, now!

Okay.

Get it out of your hand.

– If it's dope, it's dope. – We could use another person here.

What do you think we are, dumb?

– I got him. – Get down on the ground!

– Stay down! Stay down! – Where those knives at, bro?

– ( INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER ) – Sit down on the ground!

I want you to sit down on the ground.

Get down on the ground, now!

– Now! – ( TASER FIRES, CRACKLES )

Ow! Ow! Don't! Ow! Don't! Ow!

Ow! Oh God, stop!

– You done, bro? – Put your hands back.

– Get your hands behind your back, now! – Okay, stop!

Hand behind your back, now!

– Sir, I wanna know why I'm being pulled over! – ( TASER CRACKLING )

– Ow! Ow! – Get your hands behind your back.

– Ow! Ow! Ow! – 107, step it up.

– Ow! – ( INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER )

Hey, you're a witness to this, bro!

– You hear me? – Got it.

– Get that one. – You're a witness to this, all right, dog?

– Seriously, are you or no? – Hey...

– Yeah. – Just sit and chill.

Do you have any more weapons on you?

I just have a little pocket knife, that's it.

What do you keep reachin' for?

I'm not reaching for anything, man.

I'm gonna sit you up, okay?

– ( CRYING ) – Lean up on this side.

Why wouldn't you stay on the ground? I told you to sit on the ground.

Why you keep tryin' to get up?

Put that foot out straight.

– No weapons? – No. Ow! Ow! That thing's still stuck in me. Ow!

– Stuck in your shorts. Okay, just a knife? – Ow!

– Yeah. – This what you kept reachin' for?

– No, I wasn't... – Or it's just the dope you hid over there?

– Huh? – (WHIMPERING) ...anything, man, I don't.

– Hey. What's your name? – Yeah? (PANTING)

Look at me. What's your name?

Am I gonna be able to go home today, sir?

– Well, we'll see. – I mean... I...

– I don't... – Listen. When we stop you, and you reach in your pocket,

...you pull stuff out, and then you're sittin' down on it,

...and then you dig it in the ground and then you sit on top of it...

No, I did not have anything in my pocket. I didn't go in my pockets once, man.

– Yeah, you did. – I swear.

You were tryin' to get rid of whatever it was that's over there on the ground.

– Do you have my phone? – And I will go find it.

You know I'm gonna go walk right back over there and pick it up, right?

– Okay. – I didn't forget where you sat. Right?

– Hey, you said you have an ID? – In my back, right pocket.

Okay, lean forward a little.

Just lean forward.

What's up, dude, what's his problem?

– Huh? – Do you have any drugs on you?

– No, I do not. – Nothing on you?

– No. I have no drugs... – Well, I appreciate you staying out of it...

...because I don't know what his problem is, dude.

Hey, you been arrested for felonies before or what?

No felon, and no probation, no parole, no...

Well, good.

– Are you a user or no? – No. I, uh, was.

– Oh, you were? – Yeah.

– You been doin' good? – Well, until now, yeah.

Well, just because he did nonsense doesn't mean, you're getting in trouble for it.

I just recently moved down here, so.

– Okay. – I guess I'd better watch who I'm hangin' around, huh?

I guess.

I'm gonna pull these headphones off your neck, okay?

When we stopped him, he initially, uh, reached into his pocket,

...rode ahead of the other guy, and when we told him stop, he took off again.

Well, he's got a couple credit cards with some different names on it.

So we'll see where those came from.

When I had him sit down, he pulled somethin' out in his hand,

– ...he dug it in the rocks. – Like light-colored, or like, small?

No, it was small. When he sat, he tried to scoot over it, so...

Like, you think it was like a little bit of dope, or a weapon?

Yeah, most likely drugs. It was small, he had his hand cupped over it.

Hope it's not a needle or somethin'.

Here it is, here it is. So, you can see...

...the little baggie, they call these a "seal."

Looks like that's probably all he had, it was pretty small.

That little black tar substance is gonna be heroin.

Ready, bud?

Honestly, sir, I just got my mom and my grandma,

I got to take care of and stuff, and it's just so scary, man. I'm sorry.

But, again, you taking care of your mom and grandma...

...should not include a bag of heroin in your pocket.

So, when we tried to stop you, was that all you were grabbin',

...was just that one bag of heroin?

How much did that cost, one bag of heroin?

– I don't really know. – You don't know how much it costs?

You didn't buy it or what?

Somebody give it to you? Where'd you get it?

I had... I found it a long, long time ago, and I had it.

And I knew somebody that wanted it, and I just wanted some money is all.

So you've already got a probation violation warrant,

...and you're out here with heroin, violatin' your probation some more.

– So... – It's not nothin' I'm doin', I mean, I'm...

No, it's exactly... it's somethin' you're doin'.

You've got a bag of heroin in your pocket.

It was... It was in my hand. You know?

It was in your hand when you... when we tried to stop you.

It was in your pocket before we tried to stop you.

– It doesn't matter where it was. – I'm sorry.

The fact is, it was on you, you had it, and that's a violation of your probation.

– Yes. – So, you gotta stop doing those things,

...to get yourself clean, right?

And if you need a little bit of money, I promise you,

...tradin' some heroin out for it is not gonna help you.

Yeah, but I don't want it. I don't want any of this.

All right. Well, we'll see what we can do...

...about gettin' you out of there as soon as we can, okay?

All right?

Um, our guy has a bag of heroin,

...and he's got those credit cards, uh, different names on 'em.

We'll have to do some research and see what they come back to.

It looks like mail theft to m, rather than, like, uh, vehicle burg or anything,

...'cause they still got the stickers on 'em.

But this guy's goin' for sure.

– How's he? – He... Uh, he's complying.

He says he's never done any probation, parole, nothin'.

Um, did he tell you why he ran...

He said he had to get home to his grandma and his mom 'cause he's taking care of them,

...but, um, I think he ran because he was trying to get as far away...

...from that bag of heroin as he could.

Okay. Yeah, I don't see any reason why...

We could just document him and just, uh, that he was with him,

– ...and, uh, kick him loose. – All right.

He, out of the two, didn't do anything wrong.

I mean, he could've bolted if he wanted to.

I'm currently on my 23rd year as a police officer.

I'm a captain with the, uh, Paterson Police Department,

...currently assigned to the Narcotics Division...

...as the commanding officer.

I truly believe that in one way or another almost every major crime...

...that occurs in this city is related to narcotics.

Whether it be the shootings or the robberies,

...people tryin' to get money to buy their drugs,

...or people tryin' to control their territory,

...all violent crime, in one way or another, is related to narcotics activities.

We had a surveillance team out here, just observed an individual...

...jump into a car and just did a hand-to-hand drug transaction.

The, uh, suspected dealer must've spotted my truck.

He was attempting to get into his vehicle,

...but then he started walking away.

So we're tryin' to catch up to the dealer right now.

(OVER RADIO) Give me that location again? You got cut off. – Come here, coz.

Gould and Hazel. Keep your hands out of your pocket, bro.

– Turn around. – ( POLICE RADIO BEEPS )

Hey, if anybody's coming towards... down Hazel, towards Gould,

...the block before, make a right into the Clifton side,

...on the left-hand side, see if there's a car with two white kids in there.

(OVER RADIO) All right. We got 'em right here.

Yo, hold on. What am I getting an arrest for? What the hell?

– What the (BLEEP) did I do? – I'll take care for now, all right? Relax.

– Give me your other hand. – Hmm?

– Where do you live? – I live on Sixth Avenue.

– ( HORN HONKS ) – Sixth Ave?

All right, you know those kids you just got out of the car with?

Yeah, they gave me a ride over there...

They gave you a ride over there? Okay.

– Yes, sir. – Yeah, I need a scoop over here by, uh...

– ( MUMBLES INDISTINCTLY ) – Hazel and Gould.

All right, come over here. How old are you?

– I'm 22. – Been arrested before?

No.

Have a seat in there for now, all right?

– I'll talk to you in a second. – All right.

We're gonna go back to his vehicle,

...which he was attempting to get into until he spotted us.

Let's see what we got in here.

I'm tryin' to see if he has any additional of, uh... prescription pills.

Oxycontin, which is a big problem here in Paterson...

...with the sales of a lot of prescription pills.

Now, we just searched this guy's car for the, uh... more pills.