by Leslie Cardé
Live PD Host Dan Abrams inside Master Control
IT’S CABLE TELEVISION’S NUMBER ONE SHOW on Fridays and Saturdays and has pushed the A & E network to the top of the heap along with it. Live PD is a documentary series showcasing police departments across America—in real time. Amongst the 34 different police and sheriff’s departments who have participated in the show since its inception in 2016, one city that’s become a fan favorite is right on the northshore—Slidell. When the Slidell PD springs into action for three hours each Friday and Saturday night, it’s part of a national television phenomenon that involves home viewers in the action via Facebook and Instagram posts and constant tweeting throughout the course of the night’s episodes. When the show was first proposed to the Slidell police chief, the prospect of having live cameras
photo courtesy: A & E
in NYC.
Live!
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following his police officers around was less than tantalizing. “My first response was not no, but hell no,” said Slidell Chief of Police Randy Fandal. “This is law enforcement, and if you put yourself out there on live national TV, you’re really leaving yourself wide open because there’s just so much that can happen. But I was convinced by our Public Information Officer, Detective Daniel Seuzeneau, who had done the show in season one with the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Department, that letting the community in on what we do could be a very good thing.” The show, produced by Big Fish Entertainment, emanates from its hub in New York City where master control resembles a war room of sorts, with monitors covering the walls all broadcasting live the goings-on within each city’s streets, as cops in cruisers patrol their respective neighborhoods. The ringleader and host of this law enforcement marathon and the glue that holds the show together is Dan Abrams, who also serves as an executive producer on the show while simultaneously maintaining his role as chief legal analyst for ABC News along with his third gig as host of The Dan Abrams Show on Sirius XM Radio. He’s joined on Live PD by two analysts, Tom Morris Jr., a crime reporter and long-time correspondent for America’s Most Wanted as well as a special police officer in Washington, D.C.; and Sergeant Sean “Sticks” Larkin, of the Tulsa PD Gang Unit.
photos: LESLIE CARDE
Slidell PD…