Eric Villard - Final project idea

A day in the life of a Baltimore County police officer

I plan to follow Christopher Villard, my brother, around as he goes about his day on patrol in Baltimore County. The main idea of the story is to chronicle what the average day for a police officer entails so as to give readers a more in depth look at the men and women in blue who they may not know much about aside from the crime story snippets they see in newspapers or on television and the times when they get pulled over.

Almost all of what gets reported about police officers through the news, aside from the few hero stories of cops, is simply straight and to the point – such as in crime coverage – or largely negative – such as coverage of police brutality or the death of a patrolman. Rarely is the lifestyle of a police officer portrayed or their thought process analyzed so as to give viewers or readers a more intimate look into the person behind the uniform. This story aims to add more humanity to people who are often stereotyped as bull-headed and not personable.

The visuals of this story would likely come from the station at which Christopher works and from the various stops he makes in his patrol car throughout the day. It’s doubtful anything extremely dangerous will happen, but I would have camera ready to chronicle the event if it did. I anticipate most of the story will be visuals of his daily routine in an effort to humanize him for the viewers. This coverage will extend beyond his police car as well – from the places that he meets and socializes with other officers to the privacy of his own home where he interacts with his three children. The story’s focus will be on him, but whoever he interacts with throughout the day will also become part of the story (with their permission of course, since I realize dealing with law enforcement agents can be touchy).

Continuing with that thought, I may have some access issue when covering this because of the fact I am dealing with police officers. Being that the one I am covering is my brother, many of the red tape I normally would have to cut through should be removed. Having already talked with him about the matter, he has told me this is the case. While some might argue that covering my brother would bring about bias, I am confident in my ability to remain neutral despite the ties of kinship.

I anticipate that most viewers would be interested in this story, if only for the reason that it deals with a police officer. It seems inherent in society that people are interested law enforcement agents, albeit in most cases they show more interest in the negatively themed stories covering them.

The entire process of the story should not take longer than a week. The actual coverage would ideally be done in one day, but could take a few depending on the circumstances. The editing of the material, visual and audio, would probably take another few days. It will not require any expenses other than time and I will not need any equipment besides what I already have.

The end result will likely be a Soundslides presentation that gives a visual and audio overview of a day in the life of a police officer, however hectic and exciting or tempered and docile it might be. I think Soundslides will allow for the most complete coverage of the story. Taking actual video recordings would likely not be as accepted by the precinct in which Chris works. Sticking with still photos and audio from my digital voice recorder would be less noticeable and less intrusive, and thereby would be the best choice.