JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (WHAS11) -- Clips from a popular tv show shot locally could soon be brought off the screen and in front of a judge.
The creators of LivePD, a television show that runs on the A&E Network, have been named in a subpoena in a Clark County court case.
This comes just days after a number of cities backed out of the show because they say it portrays them in a bad light.
It’s a show meant to give us a first-hand look at policing, but increasingly local attorneys say they’re turning the channel.
“As a lawyer, I found it a little disrupting in the sense that I don’t think the constitution means a lot on LivePD,” said attorney Larry Wilder.
“The biggest problem as far as I can tell is that it incentivizes all of the worst behavior,” said attorney Mickey Weber. “It rewards bad policing.”
“I think that the presence of the television camera makes really good police officers really close to being entertainers,” said Wilder.
Attorney Larry Wilder says the constitutional rights of his client were violated during what he calls an illegal search after a stop over a license plate light.
“The justification used for taking these individuals out of the vehicle was they seemed to be nervous,” said Wilder. “That isn’t a constitutional opening for the police to jerk you out of your car, put your hands on the hood, search you, search your car, and take you into custody. No warrant and the allegation was the vehicle was stopped because there was a plate light out that illuminates the plate.”
Wilder has issued a subpoena for the LivePD video in hopes it will clear his client, in the way it has in the past.
“The police entered a home without a warrant and tried to rely on an emergency situation that they claimed existed,” said Weber. “The judge said no, you cannot create an emergency.”
These situations have Wilder and Weber questioning if there might be more cases out there, causing conflicts for the local courts.
“How many people have been stopped while LivePD has been running,” asked Wilder. “They’ve been taken out of their vehicles, searched, they’ve been treated this way but there was nothing there and they were no harm no foul. We’ve got to go find good TV.”
“We need more Andy Griffith’s and less Robocop’s from our local police,” said Weber. “That’s not what LivePD incentivizes.”
WHAS11 reached out to the Clark County Sheriff's Office, A&E Network, and Big Fish Entertainment which are all involved in the show for comment but to this point, I have yet to hear their stance on the show or the subpoena.