Law and Order

Unsettlingly in its relevance today, Frederick Wiseman’s 1969 film examines daily life on the beat with the Kansas City Police Department.

Following unprecedented police brutality during the 1968 Democratic National Convention protests in Chicago, Frederick Wiseman embarked on a project to examine life on the beat for Kansas City cops.

Expecting to find police behaving badly, Wiseman did indeed reveal their heavy-handed tactics – some extreme – and an African-American community that is disproportionately targeted. Such is the time and place that the bigger surprises are the quiet moments of care and what appears to be a genuine striving for positive intervention.

Curator’s Note
Law and Order is not a film about crime. In fact, not a single crime is caught on film.

Instead, we’re invited along for an examination of our system’s responses to crime. Picking incidents up the moment police arrive on the scene, their conduct is under the microscope and unsurprisingly clear lines form between race and class.

Law and Order was broadcast on America’s National Educational Television network, six months before it evolved into PBS which became the televisual home for almost all of Wiseman’s films. Following the film’s broadcast, Law and Order received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in News Documentary Programming.