Traffic cops star in ‘Speeders’

On “Cops,” police officers chase shirtless suspects who have done some bad things. It’s dangerous, interesting and even a bit glamorous police work.

But TV producers Barry Poznick and John Stevens wanted to bring attention to the unsung hero of the streets: the traffic cop.

The men and women who keep an eye on people who don’t wear seat belts, believe a speed limit posting is more of a suggestion than a law or see no problem making a U-turn in a business district are the subjects of their cable television series “Speeders.”

The show airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on truTV (formerly Court TV, cable channel 49 in Spokane, 68 in Coeur d’Alene).

It’s produced by Poznick and Stevens, the team behind the Fox Network series “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?”

“ ‘Cops’ is all about the badass guys. We wanted to offer a look at the police officers who are not normally dealing with life-threatening situations,” Stevens says.

The show is designed to offer a look at more than just those who end up with a speeding ticket. Any moving violation is fair game.

Most of the time, the stops are so routine they never make the series. It is the weird, different and unusual that is featured on “Speeders.”

One of the best excuses for speeding that Stevens says aired on the show was the bridesmaid who was rushing to console the bride who had decided to call off the wedding when she caught the groom with a man.

Then there was the couple racing to get home because it was the best time for the wife to get pregnant.

“You can’t write this stuff,” Stevens says.

Great excuses aren’t the only driving force of the show. There are those who are just interesting, such as the guy with the skull fetish.

Never has there been a shortage of people who have shown their anger at being stopped. Many try to flirt their way out of the ticket.

It is not just the drivers or passengers who make for interesting stories.

Stevens says some officers are more inclined to give a ticket than others. They followed one police officer who wrote 78 citations in one day.

Then there are the cops who try not to give out tickets.

“One officer would rather teach a lesson,” Stevens says. “He pulled over a young man who was going 63 in a 45 miles-per-hour zone. He said he was on his way to play a baseball game. He was a pitcher.

“The officer told him if he could throw a fastball more than 63 miles per hour he would not write him a ticket. He threw it 58. The officer wrote him a ticket.”

The idea for the show came to Poznick during his morning commute on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. To catch speeders, a police officer stationed himself every morning at a bend in the street. Poznick would always slow down to watch the exchange between officer and driver.

Poznick and Stevens pitched the idea to TruTV, and the cable channel bought it, says Stevens, “in 15 seconds.”

Now that’s speedy.