A police officer pulls a driver over. He gets out of the car not knowing who or what will meet him when he approaches the other vehicle. If anything dangerous awaits him, the officer's partner should be close behind, ready to help and call for backup.
Effective Tuesday night, that partner could be a celebrity with a camera crew in tow.
Jason "Wee Man" Acu+â-¦a, Jack Osbourne, Erik Estrada, Trish Stratus and La Toya Jackson are now badge-wearing, gun-toting members of the Muncie Police Department.
The five cast members of Muncie's reality show were sworn in - multiple times - by Mayor Dan Canan during a public ceremony Tuesday night.
We say multiple because the first take was apparently not good enough for producers.
With the growing hype surrounding "Armed & Famous," an important group of people seem to be at a disadvantage: the Muncie police officers the celebrities will follow around.
The genuine officers who the celebrities follow are attempting to do a critical and often dangerous job.
That job should not include babysitting.
This is not a matter of questioning a given celebrity's intent integrity, intelligence or competence. In some aspect relative to their careers, these celebrities have obviously succeeded in some way.
That success, however, does not qualify the "Armed & Famous" cast to be considered actual police officers.
It is hard to take the celebrities seriously when they are being followed by a camera crew. Now placed in a serious and authoritative role in the community, the celebrities must act appropriately.
Even then, while the cast members are unlikely to abuse their privilege to carry a weapon, they might be placed in a predicament in which the criminal exploits their inexperience.
With real citizens, real situations and real functional loaded weapons, there's a lot on the line.
In true reality, there are no second takes.
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