CENTERVILLE—Centerville Police Department may shortly be part of a German documentary program highlighting law enforcement in the U.S. And perhaps surprisingly, it’s members of the city council who are not sure it’s the best idea, rather than Police Chief Paul Child or his officers.

In fact, Child and his officers are very supportive of the idea, he told the city council at a Nov. 7 work session.

“I've talked with our officers about it, to see what kind of interest level there is for us,” he said. “So I was a little bit surprised that there was a lot of positive feedback from my officers. They were very positive about the idea.”

Child first learned of the documentary being produced by a company in Germany called Fabiola through the Utah Chiefs of Police Association. He was interested and began looking into the company and found nothing but positive reviews, he said.

Fabiola’s contract is with the Discovery Channel for 30 episodes, eight of which would be filmed in Centerville if city leaders approve the idea.

“What the idea is they are kind of showcasing law enforcement in Utah and trying to show the good of what's going on in America,” Child said. “They tend to get a steady dose of something that is maybe not exemplary for what we would want to show the world as far as law enforcement goes.” 

Child met with two Fabiola representatives last July who toured the police department and spoke with some officers along with touring the city. In October, Fabiola representative Uwe Bohler contacted Child to see if Centerville PD would be interested in participating in late-November/early December 2023 or April 2024. On Nov. 7 he took the proposal to the city council to get their feedback.

At that meeting various members of the city council expressed concern that people, both officers and those they interact with, might view it as an invasion of their privacy, even though anyone used on film would have to give their written consent. There were also concerns based on past U.S. reality TV shows that have highlighted police departments.

“The only concern I have, and there was a lot of backlash on the live PD program that was out for a long time, that the policing was not the same when the camera was on and the camera was off,” Councilmember George McEwan said. 

“I think that we hopefully as a profession, we move past that, because we recognize we're on camera all the time,” Child responded. “We have body cameras on us, we understand that that could go the media on any given situation. People are out with cell phones. I mean, it's a given that we're going to be being recorded anytime of the day.”

“The spin can be great; it can be terrible,” Councilmember Spencer Summerhays said. “Now, if it's a morale booster for our officers, and they want to be on TV, and they think it's kind of fun and cool, well ...”

With Centerville being more representative of law enforcement in a smaller town than what is often portrayed in the media, the exposure could be a positive thing, Child said. “That's one thing that they [came up] in our discussions. It's like, we're not like some crazy town with all kinds of action going on. That's what we want to show: it's a human story. We want to tell the story. It doesn't matter if you're writing a ticket, if you pull someone over for speeding, or you're helping a kid get across the road.”

In addition to the ordinary day-to-day policing, Fabiola would highlight some interesting cases the police department has been involved in without sensationalizing them, Child said. “They're not after just whatever happens during that period of time when they're here if there's an interesting story that they can highlight and draw from body cameras or dash cameras or whatever and put that into an episode. They're definitely interested in doing that as well.” 

The police department and city would not be compensated financially in any way for their participation so any benefits would be non tangible. One might be its effect on morale, Child said.

“You might ask why even be interested in such a such a deal, especially where it's not even aired here; it's aired in Germany,” Child said. “And I asked that to my officers. And the response that I got, which I agree with is that we can basically use all the good PR that we can come up with that we can get. The other comment was that we feel like we have an outstanding department who do things right.”

“From a morale boost standpoint, I think it would be great if every officer is potentially going to be on board is thinking like there's a bit of soul searching,” McEwan said. “‘Why do I do what I do?’ And that if they can articulate that and feel good about it? Hey, great. I mean, to me is that there's a risk, but there's a risk other times as well. “

In addition to talking to Centerville PD right now, Fabiola is also in negotiations with Nephi PD. and Telluride, Colorado. Each of Fabiola’s episodes currently gets about one million views, Child said. 

While no decision was made that evening, after the discussion the city council gave approval for City Attorney Lisa Romney to evaluate the contract Fabiola is asking the city to sign and for Romney and Child to bring their feedback to them.