Reality TV can fail to live up to its name, conveying a version of the world that is a sidestep from the truth. And Cops was a show that was crucial to the genre – it’s not only the longest-running reality show in history, it’s also one of the first.

A new podcast, Running from Cops, explores how the TV show helped to shape the same criminal justice system that it depicted. Dan Taberski tracks down some of the people whose crimes and arrests were broadcast for all to see and uncovers how the show was made.

While they were making the six-episode podcast, Dan and his producers created an enormous dataset about the show. They watched 846 episodes across 30 seasons of Cops and compared the numbers they found with national crime figures.

I created these illustrations using the Running from Cops dataset, as well as 2016 ACS PUMS 1-year estimates from the Census Bureau, 2017 Bureau of Justice Statistics and 2017 FBI Uniform Crime Reports.

It can be difficult to make some of these comparisons (US crime data on arrested suspects does not separate white and Hispanic) but some trends still appear. You’re more likely to find white police officers and white victims on Cops than you are in real life, and you’re less likely to see white suspects being arrested on the show than you are in real life.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Percentage of police officers who are white on Cops compared with real life. Illustration: Mona Chalabi

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Percentage of arrested suspects who are white on Cops compared with real life. Illustration: Mona Chalabi

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Percentage of victims who are white on Cops compared with real life. Illustration: Mona Chalabi

Cops also spent a disproportionate time showing drugs and violent crimes.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Drug crimes on Cops v real life. Photograph: Mona Chalabi

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Violent crimes on Cops v real life. Illustration: Mona Chalabi

You can catch up with the series and listen to future episodes here.