“No” is the resounding answer most of us have to that question, I hope. But it is an excellent premise for a television series that’s right at the line between present day reality and true dystopia.
The show, A.P.B., is inspired by the New York Times Magazine article “Who Runs the Streets of New Orleans” by David Amsden—which is fascinating and a little bit terrifying, for those of us not really a fan of private individuals or corporations having that much influence over the police. It’s an issue that we can hope gets some in-depth exploration. We’ll see if executive producers David Slack (co-executive producer on Person Of Interest) and Len Wiseman (co-creator of Sleepy Hollow) pull that off.
Here’s the description from Deadline:
A.P.B. explores what happens when an enigmatic tech billionaire purchases a troubled police precinct in the wake of a loved one’s murder. Can this eccentric and enigmatic figure’s cutting-edge approach fix the broken ways of these blue-blooded veterans?
Putting aside that “blue-blooded” doesn’t mean what they think it means, adding the murder of a loved one is a personal touch the story that inspired A.P.B. lacks and should cause a fair amount of tension.
Also adding tension? The issues of race and class that this concept should also bring up. With race, class, emotion, and tech issues embedded in it, A.P.B. should tap into science fiction at its best. We’ll have to wait and see.
Top image: Cropped from Cops! DellWorld Edition by Michael Coté/flickr/CC BY 2.0