Why do so many cop shows feature footage from Ohio?

December 25, 2012 10:51 PM

Why do so many cop shows feature footage from Ohio?

There could be some confirmation bias on my part due to a connection to Ohio, but it seems like shows with actual dashboard footage largely feature Ohio, and in particular the Ohio State Highway Patrol. I am just curious if there is a reason behind it (they may be more open to working with the media, there may be laws that make certain footage more easy to obtain, etc). Do you have any idea why this appears to be the case? Google's giving me nothing. Thanks for indulging my curiosity.

posted by halseyaa to Law & Government (3 answers total)

If you're positive a lot of what you're seeing is indeed Ohio State Highway Patrol --- i.e., the credits and/or uniform badges state that it's the Ohio HP --- why not just call them and ask? I'm sure they've got a public relations office of some sort who can answer this.
posted by easily confused at 2:54 AM on December 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Not an answer, really, but an observation - if there's really a trend here, it goes a long way back. I remember being in high school in the '80s and noticing that those gross-out driver's ed films from the 50s and 60s mostly featured OSP.
posted by randomkeystrike at 8:23 AM on December 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

The OSHP partnered with the Highway Safety Foundation, which was largely a one-man operation that was active from 1954 to 1973 (when it collapsed in scandal). So there's that history.

I couldn't find any particular relationship with Ohio and any of these TV shows: COPS, World's Wildest Police Videos, Real Stories of the Highway Patrol.
posted by dhartung at 10:21 AM on December 26, 2012 [2 favorites]