How Police Ride Alongs Inspired On Call's Crucial Onscreen Moments
Mandatory ride alongs with law enforcement not only helped On Call writers conduct vital research for the show — it also inspired crucial scenes from Wolf Entertainment’s first streaming series.
The Prime Video series, which premiered on Thursday, January 9, utilizes bodycam, dash-camera and cellphone footage that allows viewers to follow cops in the field. On Call is largely centered around veteran training officer Traci Harmon (Troian Bellisario) and her rookie partner Alex Diaz (Brandon Larracuente) as they respond to emergency calls on the streets of Long Beach, California.
The duo deal with everything from gang-related incidents to domestic disputes to escalated incidents of arson. While some of the cases seem overexaggerated for the sake of making good TV, cocreator Tim Walsh exclusively told Us Weekly how his own experiences on ride alongs informed the show’s scripts.
“I can say with all honesty that probably 90 to 95 percent of the calls that you saw on the show all came from our experiences in the ride along,” Walsh shared. “Or they were told to us by the officers on a ride along. So we took a lot from being on the street.”
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Walsh admitted that creating an ambitious series such as On Call came with its set of challenges.
“The bodycam is a lens that takes everything in. We learned right away in editing that you would see the boom operator, craft services and the porta potties. We had to be really careful,” he explained. “We learned, but we had to be really careful. At one point in time there were 12 cameras in episode 4 when they hit the motel.”
Walsh continued: “It’s a big action sequence and every single one of our characters — or police officers — are wearing a bodycam. You can only imagine they’re going to get the crew, they’re going to get the people sitting off to the side. So that was really challenging. We just had to figure it out and we found it in the editing part of the process.”
Despite the complications, Walsh says he’s thrilled with the final product. The screenwriter specifically highlighted On Call‘s mission not to pick sides while highlighting important conversations about first responders.
“That was the goal of going into it — it’s not an anti-police or pro-police show. It’s pro-character, and the characters happen to be cops,” Walsh said. “We started doing a lot of research from the jump, including multiple ride-alongs with the Los Angeles Police Department, Sheriff’s Department and Long Beach police. You realize when you get in a car that it’s just another human being next to you.”
On Call’s overall mission was to “entertain” the audience. “People are at a point in their lives where they don’t want to be preached at anymore. So we were very aware of that,” Walsh continued. “It’s a complicated subject matter. We’re not ignoring that part of it. But we’re also saying that outside of the complicated subject matter, there’s also an incredibly important job that these people have to do. We wanted to focus on that part.”
On Call is currently streaming on Prime Video. Keep scrolling for a breakdown of how offscreen ride alongs played a role in creating the newest police procedural:
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Were Ride Alongs Mandatory?
Walsh called the first-hand research “incredibly important” to the show.
“Honestly, when I hired the writing staff I asked them, ‘Do you have a problem with going on ride alongs? Because if you do, you’re [likely] not going to be writing on the show,'” Walsh told Us, referring to how necessary it was to have knowledge of the field when creating the series. “If someone was going to write a show about a TV writer, they get to shadow a TV writer or a showrunner to figure out what their daily life is. They can’t just make it up.”
The entire On Call team wanted to do right by the material, with Walsh adding, “We couldn’t do that to these law enforcement officers either. We wanted this to always be very authentic because there’s just so much drama out there to mine. So preparation was No. 1 and the actors really stepped up. They all did ride alongs, the directors did ride alongs, some of the producers did ride alongs and our Director of Production did. So if you wanted to be on the show, you absolutely had to go and sit in a car with these folks.”
How Much of a Ride Along Ended Up on Screen?
While recalling his own time in a squad car, Walsh quoted the first major moment between Harmon and Diaz.
“What stuck with me in one of my first rides while developing this show with a 30-year-old young kid who pulls over to the side of the road. He then turned to me after we had a very friendly conversation back and forth. He looks at me and asks, ‘Where are we right now?’ I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He’s like, ‘I’ve just been shot. You’re my partner tonight. Where are we?'” Walsh told Us about a conversation that made it into the season premiere of On Call. “I am looking all over the place and he’s like, ‘I’m dead. I’m already dead.'”
Walsh continued: “He said, ‘The most important thing you can learn from day one is where you are at all times in life. That went right into the pilot.”
Was Anything Off Limits?
“When you are with these officers, you go right into these communities and right into people’s homes. You are in their living rooms, in their backyard and you learn so much,” Walsh shared, referring to how his first-hand experience was used on screen. “We’re not just watching the police, we’re watching the community and how they interact with the police as well. That’s also very important.”
The more heavy subject matter on the show — including the cold open with a car accident that led to an injured dog — was lifted from actual incidents.
“That had to go in there. I’ve done a few shows where I’ve developed them and they haven’t gone forward and it’s devastating. I felt like this might be my last opportunity,” he admitted to Us. “And if I was going to fall on anyone’s sword, it was going to be on my own sword. I was just like, ‘Nothing’s off limits. Let’s just leave it all out there and I think it’ll find its audience.'”
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How Dangerous Were the Ride Alongs?
According to Walsh, not every encounter turned out how he expected.
“We rolled up on a gentleman [once] who was smoking crystal meth on a bus stop bench and the officer got on his loudspeaker and just said, ‘Hey, do me a favor. Just move and go smoke that somewhere else. You can’t be in public.’ In the past, they probably would’ve gotten out of the car and confronted him, but he is taking precautions,” Walsh recalled. “The guy said, ‘No, I’m not going to move.’ When he shifted around, we saw that he had a tennis ball size of crystal meth. That’s a felony, so the officer got out of the car and I got out with him.”
The routine stop ended with a “physical altercation” between the man and the police officer.
“I’ll never forget this young deputy rolling around on the ground with this guy. I turned around and everybody in the intersection was stopped with their cell phones and they were recording us. I was like, ‘Please, do not let this end in a more violent way.’ And the suspect took off running,” Walsh continued. “Then the whole fleet went after him and about 30 minutes later, they caught him. But things like that, I was literally his only backup. So I was wondering, ‘Do I need to jump in here and help him?’ But that’s pretty much every ride along — you have absolutely no idea what you’re going to encounter.”
What Was the Main Takeaway From the Experience?
“What I hope [viewers] take away is that a huge part of the daily interactions of the police really is mental health. I don’t think they get enough credit for that,” Walsh noted. “Obviously there’s a lot of focus on the negative incidents, which rightfully so and which needs to be called out. But also they are helping people with mental illness and substance abuse issues.”
He concluded: “That’s really not in their job description, but it has fallen on them and the fire department. So the takeaway would probably be to just bring more awareness that these are the people that are helping the folks on the street with addiction problems — more so than you probably imagined.”
