NiLP TV Review

The "Blue Bloods" "Broken Windows" Debate: Tom Selleck/Bill Bratton versus Whoopi Goldberg/Melissa Mark-Viverito

By Angelo Falcón (2/29/16)

"We know that the system has been really rigged against communities of color in particular. . . . So the question has always been, what can we do in this job to minimize unnecessary interaction with the criminal justice system, so that these young people can really fulfill their potential?"

---NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (2016)

One of the latest developments in television that I haven't yet fully adjusted to is the ability of scripted shows to almost immediately incorporate current events and issues. It was, for example, on a recent episode of CBS'

The Good Wife that I got the best and most current explanation of how the Iowa caucuses work. But as amazing as the capacity to do so is, it also raises some questions about its effect on actual public policy issues.

This Friday's episode of another CBS series, Blue Bloods (season 6, episode 16, "Help Me Help You"), presents some interesting questions in this regard. It stars Tom Sellick as the New York Police Commissioner Frank Regan and guest stars Whoopi Goldberg as New York City Council Speaker Regina Thomas. By the way, in an unrelated subplot, this episode also includes a cameo appearance by NYS Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, apparently sucking up (I mean, extending his condolences) to a judge by attending his wife's funeral.

The other subplot involving Whoopi is described by the network as follows:

Frank and the Madam Speaker of the City Council have been butting heads over the Broken Window policy. And although he did have the numbers to continue placing his officers in at-risk neighborhoods, he came to realize that no community should fear the police. Not when it's the police's job to protect them. . . . Therefore, Frank asked the Madame Speaker if they could work something out that would be beneficial to both the community and the police department.

This sure sounds like a nice resolution to the conflict between the Commissioner and the Speaker on this issue. But as one views the show, the outcome is not as evenhanded as presented in this synopsis of the episode.

First of all, while the program accurately casts the Police Commissioner as a White male, for some reason they cast the Speaker as an African-American although the actual officials is Puerto Rican. This misrepresentation would not be an issue if there were more Latinos on the show, but, in their six seasons, of the ten regular and recurring characters, there has only been one Latina (Marisa Ramirez as Detective Maria Baez), and she is not a "main" character in the series, having joined it in season 3.

Although the show has been complimented for its on-location filming in New York City, it is sometimes hard to tell from the show that two-thirds of the city's population is made up of people of color. However, when the top brass of the NYPD is presented as mostly White, well, that's accurate. Although over 60 percent of the New York City police are made up of officers of color, there are very few in top management at the NYPD.

In this episode, the Council Speaker is presented as an unreasonable politician, which Commissioner Regan denounces as "ridiculously ignorant." In his discussions of and meetings with her during the episode, he consistently expresses his disdain for her and her views about the role of the police and the "broken windows" policy. Despite insincerely calling for a compromise with her at the end (she points out that his nose is growing at that point), there is the scene of the City Council hearing and subsequent committee vote where it becomes clear that the Commissioner politically outmaneuvers the Speaker. Yes, the White guy, of course, is more politically sophisticated than the woman of color.

The questions this leaves us with are: Did this episode unfairly promote the continuation of "broken windows"? Did it, in the process, portray the actual City Council President, Melissa Mark-Viverito, as an extremist on this question? Did this episode represent the position of a White racial minority over that of a majority of people of color?

Or, is it just a television show of no policy or political consequence except to entertain?

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Angelo Falcón is President of the National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP), for which he also edits The NiLP Report on Latino Policy & Policy, an national online information service. He is also a co-founder of the Boricua Film Club. He can be reached at afalcon@latinopolicy.org.