User: Is the television show Cops a real show or is it staged?
Assistant: That’s a tricky question! I think there’s no doubt that most of the Cops episodes on television are based on actual events, including arrests made by police officers, but I also saw that there’s some controversy about how much of the show is scripted, and how staged the “arrests” on the show might be. I can understand that – both for the show’s realism, and so that police officers can be depicted in an accurate light – a show like this probably has some scripting and re-enactments involved. I’ve read that the producers of the show have said that the show is not scripted, and it’s based entirely on real-life arrests, but I also saw that that claim has been disputed, and that it’s become controversial in recent years. So I’d say it’s probably safe to assume that the show is largely based on real-life arrests, but there are probably also some scripting and re-enactments involved in some cases.