This Is Your Police Department
This Is Your Police Department is a short film from 1951 released on 16mm. It is held in the Prelinger Archives collection.
Film on Detroit Police officers in two-parts one on the annual Detroit Police Field Day; the other on the hiring and training of cops. Annual outdoor police rally
Battalions of police department members march, ride horses and motorcycles and otherwise parade past the camera's lens. Stock shots: Police marching bands. Close-order drills. Track and field events. One division of policewomen seen. Hiring and training of officers. Target practice. first aid classes. Cadets, in what appears to be their underwear, practice "commando" movements with rifles in a gymnasium. Lie detector / polygraph. Drunkometer / breathalyzer; ballistics test consisting of firing a gun into a box. School crossing; walking the beat. Helps little girl eating ice cream cone. Precinct map. Dispatchers. Police cars. Police respond to holdup. Shots fired; bang bang. Cop shot. Surprise shots: Plainclothes cops all wearing light-colored fedoras and suits march past. Real cops acting as clowns including a couple in drag. Tug-of-war Voiceovers: "this is your police department in review. These are the guardians of your city." Domestic disputes called "family trouble." "Joe had visions of being a hero, of defending some frail little woman whose husband was mistreating her. But in this case, Joe was told by a ruffled lady of the house to mind his own business. If she and her husband wanted to throw things at each other, that was their business."
� 6:42:60- 06:53:65 Nice image of a store-lined street in Detroit. Women leisurely walk by the store windows. A police officer walks in the opposite direction, and turns to look at a man walking by.
� 11:42:00- 11:54:07 A police car speeds by a line of traffic on a downtown Detroit street and rounds a corner. Pedestrians stop and stare. Detroit looks more like a town than a city.
� 18:21:47- 18:49:60
Strange image of retired policemen dressed as clowns running around a track at the Police Field Day in Detroit. One of them rides a bicycle and two others are strung together. They wave to the crowd. Cut to clowns dressed in wedding gear and then to a man dressed in drag (with a surly expression) slowly walking by the crowd.| This Is Your Police Department | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Handy (Jam) Organization |
Production company | Handy (Jam) Organization |
| Distributed by | Handy (Jam) Organization |
Release date | 1951 |
Running time | 23:04 |
| Language | English |
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