On Patrol: Live Will Air Instances of Police Brutality, Says Dan Abrams

Since it was announced in June that Reelz is rebranding Live PD as On Patrol: Live, critics of the show have wondered how the new series will handle incidents of police brutality, as its predecessor made headlines for not retaining footage of an Austin man's death while in police custody.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, host and executive producer Dan Abrams addressed the death of Javier Ambler in 2019. Ambler, who was in custody for a traffic violation, died after being held down and tased four times by deputies. A&E’s Live PD camera crew was present and filmed the event, but the footage was destroyed.

Abrams said that Live PD's policy at the time was to retain footage for no more than 30 days unless a subpoena was filed. After 30 days, all footage was destroyed. For On Patrol: Live, Abrams revealed the show will "make more exceptions" for keeping footage past the 30 day period, particularly in "other incident[s] like that one" and "exceptional event[s]."

"We don't want to become an arm of law enforcement," he said of the footage retainment policy. "When I say that, I mean we don't want to serve as a repository for either law enforcement or defense attorneys to be able to just use the footage." The host did not give details on what would help determine if an incident was worth retaining footage for or not.

In 2019, Live PD did not air the footage of Ambler's arrest, but Abrams feels that was a mistake. "If we have another incident like that, I would expect that we would air it," he said. "We just wouldn't air the moment [of death] itself."

When asked about how the show handled Ambler's arrest and death, Abrams said, "I think there were two mistakes that were made. Number one is, I think it should have been aired, just obviously not the final moments, so people could see for themselves [what happened]. And number two, that the tape should have been retained. I think that this new show would adhere to both of those."

Abrams added it will be up to the producers to determine what is and isn't included in the show, saying, "I'm certain that if something else like this happens [during On Patrol: Live], that they will consult with me, but that is also a question for the [producers]. But I feel confident that they would share my perspective on this."

On Patrol: Live premieres Friday at 8:00 PM ET on Reelz.

Kirstie Renae is a writer, blogger, and Austin-based actress with a penchant for binge-watching TV with her dogs. Follow her on Twitter @KirstieRenae.