TV show shares Albuquerque’s drunken transvestites with world

This weekend's Sunday Journal ran two priceless stories about Albuquerque's odd relationship with the TV show Cops.

From "Appearances on 'Cops' May Not Aid City's Image":

"They, for some reason, have a great interest in us," said Albuquerque Police Department spokesman Jeff Arbogast on Tuesday. "I think it's our willingness to work with them."

"Cops" first filmed in Albuquerque back in 1995, said Brian Collins of Langley Productions, the Los Angeles-based production company that makes the show. "We were welcomed with open arms; it was one of the friendliest cities I've ever been to," he said.

...

Each time they came to the city, the show's cameramen filmed enough footage of drunken transvestites and toddler-beating ex-cons for eight to 12 shows, Collins said.

And from the article which has what might possibly be the greatest headline ever printed in the Journal, "Mayor Has Banned 'Cops' in Albuquerque":

"The city's police officers are portrayed in a good light (on 'Cops'), but the rest of the city looks horrible," Chávez said. "That has a real impact. That's all people see, and that's not who we are."

Chávez said Wednesday that sometime after his election in 2001, he told Albuquerque Police Department Chief Gil Gallegos not to let "Cops" film here again. "They haven't been on the show since my election," he said.

But "Cops" camera crews were here in fall 2002, about a year after Chávez took office. And the "Cops" moratorium was news to APD spokesman Jeff Arbogast, who is the department's liaison with the show.