Producers and directors from the television show “On Patrol Live” have selected Wheeling as the first West Virginia city to be featured on the Reelz TV program.
The reality show is broadcast in the Wheeling area each Friday and Saturday evening on the Peacock streaming network at 9 p.m. Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger confirmed this week on the “Novotney Now” radio program that the City of Wheeling signed the contract with Reelz this week.
“The people with the TV show are really fascinated with our Crisis Response Unit and the amount of success we’re having with it so far. We have counselors that go out on those calls, and also someone who can treat medical issues, and there have been a lot of positives that have come from establishing that unit,” Schwertfeger said. “And they respond to a number of different situations whether they involve a homeless individual or not.
“I have gone on a lot of calls that have involved an addicted individual, and I have told them about the help we can get them, and I don’t get the same response as the people do with our Crisis Response Unit,” he said. “That’s because those counselors have been in that situation. They are in addition recovery for more than three years, so they can relate and that’s why we are seeing great results.”
According to Schwertfeger, now in his 13th year as the Friendly City’s police chief, his department currently has 10 openings for sworn officers. He does hope to fill as many as five of those positions thanks to recent public service testing, but he also believes the “On Patrol Live” exposure will help with filling the other openings.
“I think this is a pretty big deal because of how often we talk about recruitment and the challenges that go along with being understaffed. But having our officers and our department featured on a very popular show like this can only help us attract new officers in the future,” he explained. “I know everyone is familiar with the TV shows ‘Cops’ and ‘Live PD,’ but ‘On Patrol Live’ is a new show that as many as 3.5 million viewers tune into every weekend.
“It’s a spin-off show from those others, but it’s a different company and a different streaming network (Reelz),” Schwertfeger said. “They reached out to us because of some of the success we’ve realized over the past year or so, and that makes me very proud of our sworn officers because our lowered crime rate is a product of their hard work and mindset while they’re on the job. It means something to our men and women, and that’s all a community can ask for.”
Late Summer Action
Although the chief is not certain when the “OPL” crews will set up shop, Schwertfeger is confident they will arrive later in the summer for multiple weeks.
“I know we have signed the contract, and now we have to wait for them to tell us when it will be best for them to come here to do the show. There have been some people with the company who have been here to see what they needed to see, and now it’s up to them when they come back,” Schwertfeger said. “When that does happen, we’ll be one of 10 to 15 agencies who will be living in living rooms answering calls right here in Wheeling, W.Va. And we’ll be the first agency I West Virginia on the show.
“I know there are a lot of people who are very familiar with the show, and I’ve seen bits and pieces of it,” the chief said. “I don’t normally watch those shows because I’ve been living it for 34 years. I know what law enforcement is all about.”
Schwertfeger recently reported an impressive decrease in criminal activity in Wheeling during the first quarter of 2025, but that does not mean his officers are not busy answering calls for service from residents living within its 16 square miles.
The chief has separated the city into seven different patrol districts, and the Patrol Division now consists of four shifts, including Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta. The patrol officers now work 12-hour shifts, a change that has placed more presence on the streets of Wheeling.
“There is a 30-minute delay on the show, so we do have that to work with,” Schwertfeger said. “But it’s live and it’s just like you’re taking a ride-along with one of our officers. They have sent some people here to take those ride-alongs, and they came away from those and told us that Wheeling is going to be a great town to be on the show.
“So, the show goes live on the Reelz Network, and they have a headquarters where it’s all directed depending on what’s taking place where,” he said. “A couple of cameramen will ride with our officers, and then it all depends on the calls that they get from dispatch. There’s nothing staged or anything like that. It’s as real as it gets from what I can tell.”
Congratulations to the Northern Panhandle’s finest!