The Pittsburgh Police series offers a raw and often intimate window into policing during a time before the War on Drugs and subsequent militarization of the police.
Produced in the late 1960s, the project was sponsored by the Lemberg Center for the Study of Violence at Brandeis University in an attempt to study police conduct in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. In spite of the racially tense climate in the city, following civil disorders in which 2,000 people were arrested (although no one was killed), permission to film was granted by the Director of Public Safety and by each Station's Inspector. The films were intended for use by law schools, community relations projects, sociology and urban studies programs, and by the police themselves, to provoke discussion about policing practices.
Marshall accompanied Pittsburgh Police officers over a nine month period of time between 1968 and 1969 as they responded to calls in the community. Individual officers provided access to their everyday work, allowing Marshall to ride in the back of their squad cars and film their interactions with community members. Marshall's footage was edited into seventeen films falling into three categories. Some of the films such as After the Game and A Forty Dollar Misunderstanding are short films that focus on single sequences and events within the project. Other films such as 901/904 and Inside/Outside Station 9 are longer films made up of a variety of these sequences with the intent to give off an overall impression of police work. The third category of films within the series are educational films, such as The 4th and 5th and the Exclusionary Rule and Investigation of a Hit and Run with Legal Discussion, which consist of clips of Marshall's footage intercut with discussion and analysis of the footage.
In Pittsburgh, sequences shown to recruits in training and to off-duty officers provoked lively discussions about the conduct and decisions made by police officers in the actual filmed events. Opinions were often divided on particular cases, as well as on the basic issue of police roles. Recruits and officers argued about the extent to which the police must function as "social workers", becoming involved in domestic situations, and about their biases about men and women. "We always believe the woman and arrest the guy," said one policeman. Several years later, the Department and individual policemen were invited to participate in the discussion film, The 4th and 5th and the Exclusionary Rule, but the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association would not allow participation. The Pittsburgh Police Department now has copies of most of these films, all of which have been shown to Department members.
John Marshall and Emile de Brigard wrote in their 1973 article "Idea and Event in Urban Film" that "In its capacity as an eyewitness report, film is an experience. The object of using film is to untangle impressions, to analyze the facts and implications of an event." The films in The Pittsburgh Police series remain powerful documents for reflecting on society then and now and allow for potent discussions about the place of police within communities as well as issues and biases within the criminal justice system.
The films may be grouped into several clusters that address various dimensions of these broad issues:
The Job: These films focus on the variety and ambiguity of police roles. (A Forty Dollar Misunderstanding; Vagrant Woman; Nothing Hurt But My Pride; Youth and the Man of Property; Inside/Outside Station Nine)
Searches and Seizures: Fourth Amendment issues are addressed in these films. (Three Domestics; Wrong Kid; After the Game)
Asking Questions: Fifth Amendment issues are at stake in situations in these films. (Investigation of a Hit and Run; The Informant; The 4th and 5th and the Exclusionary Rule)
Public Places: These films dramatize the issues of civic order versus civil liberties, of public versus private. (You Wasn't Loitering; Henry is Drunk)
The films in this series lend themselves especially well to analytical treatments in "clusters" such as these, since many are short sequences and none are narrated. The groupings suggested here represent examples, and numerous other combinations can be constructed in order to explore and illustrate particular themes.
Eleven of these films are also available on the Pittsburgh Police Shorts DVD, a 2007 re-mastered/authored set which also contains additional information about the series.
Films in the Pittsburgh Police series
901/904
After the Game
A Forty Dollar Misunderstanding
The 4th and 5th and the Exclusionary Rule
Henry is Drunk
The Informant
Inside/Outside Station Nine
Investigation of a Hit and Run w/ Legal Discussion
Manifold Controversy
Nothing Hurt But My Pride
Three Domestics
Twenty One Dollars or Twenty One Days
Two Brothers
Vagrant Woman
Wrong Kid
You Wasn't Loitering
Youth and the Man of Property
