Too Close to Reality?

In what New York police and community leaders are calling a case of unfortunate timing, CBS is preparing to launch a drama about a fictional Brooklyn police precinct and accusations of police brutality at the same time that a real-life Brooklyn police precinct has been hit with charges of brutality.

Police officials expressed concern this week that the characters and situations portrayed on “Brooklyn South,” which is scheduled to premiere Sept. 22, might provoke additional controversy and further damage the image of Brooklyn police in the wake of the charges and federal investigation surrounding four 70th Precinct officers in the brutal Aug. 9 assault of a Haitian immigrant.

“It’s bad timing,” said John Giammarino, a public-information officer for the New York Police Department. Giammarino, who has neither seen the pilot episode nor read a script, added, “I don’t know if it will be good or bad for the image of the police. I hope that people will realize the TV series is fictional.”

Meanwhile, Chantal Pierre-Louis, spokeswoman for the Haitian Centers Council, a group of neighborhood centers in Brooklyn, said when told about the show’s police misconduct story line: “I think it could add to people’s passions. Right now in our community, there’s sentiment against the police.”

In spite of the potential furor, a CBS spokesman said the network had no plans to change the focus or the extent of the current promotional campaign behind “Brooklyn South,” which stresses the “feel of the show and its characters” rather than its plot.

“We are aware of the events in New York, and we will be careful not to exploit the situation,” the spokesman added.

While he vehemently denounced the alleged actions of the Brooklyn officers, Steven Bochco, executive producer of “Brooklyn South,” said he will not be altering the direction of the series as a result of the real-life drama unfolding, and that the differences between the show and the situation in Brooklyn are so striking that viewers will not be confused or put off by “Brooklyn South.”

“We’re already five episodes into our show, and we’re not changing anything,” said Bochco, who is also the co-creator and executive producer of the acclaimed police drama “NYPD Blue.” “We should continue to tell the stories we’re telling. We’re telling good stories about complicated police and community issues. I don’t know how we could suspend that to deal with this.”

In the New York case, the four officers are accused of torturing Abner Louima, a 30-year-old security guard who was arrested for disorderly conduct outside a Brooklyn nightclub. Prosecutors said the officers beat Louima in the station house bathroom while using racial slurs, shoved the handle of a bathroom plunger into his rectum and then into his mouth. Louima said they threatened to kill him and his family if he screamed or told what happened.

The incident has provoked angry demonstrations in New York and has become an issue in the race for New York City mayor.

In the pilot for “Brooklyn South,” which was filmed last spring, an African American man goes on a bloody rampage in the streets of Brooklyn, gunning down police officers and bystanders. The man is shot and wounded, then arrested and dragged into the precinct by officers. A few angry officers kick, slap and insult the man as he lies on the floor. Minutes later, he dies. His death prompts the killer’s family to accuse the precinct of police misconduct.

Bochco acknowledged the similarity between the settings of the two incidents, and noted that both are laced with racial overtones. But he said the similarities between the two situations end there.

Of the real-life Brooklyn incident, Bochco said: “We’re talking about totally psychotic behavior that is so beyond the pale. Once you establish that, it takes that event out of the legitimate debate of where there are similarities. There’s not a single person who would condone the alleged behavior of those cops. I don’t know a cop who isn’t disgusted and outraged by this.”

Bochco added: “The events in the first eight minutes of our show are not racial at all. The fact that the shooter is African American does not change or influence the behavior of any cop in that series of events. If it were a white or Asian or polka-dotted perpetrator, they would have reacted in the same way. And this shooter doesn’t commit this crime because he’s angry at whites. He does it because he’s a cop killer.”

He said the incident on “Brooklyn South” “becomes racial to the extent they are perceived as racial by the community.” The differing interpretations of the shooting spree and the death “make for interesting and provocative storytelling,” he said.

Although New York police may be concerned about “Brooklyn South,” Bochco said he is maintaining his professional relationship with the New York Police Department, which assists in the production of “NYPD Blue” and “Brooklyn South” but has no influence over scripts.

“They don’t know what’s happening,” Bochco said. “They have far more fish to fry than worrying about a TV show.”

Bochco added that he didn’t feel viewers would be confused by “Brooklyn South” and the real-life drama: “I’m never concerned with viewers confusing fact and fiction. I credit them with more intelligence than that. Viewers understand what we do as entertainment and what’s happening in the real world.”

Greg Braxton reported from Los Angeles, Jane Hall from New York.