Indian-American actor Kal Penn – who spent two years on the White House staff under Obama – gave an interview to Time magazine about playing a detective on the new CBS show Battle Creek.
When they asked him what he learned from riding around with cops in Battle Creek, Michigan, he said in the March 9 Time that “The most surprising thing was the way officers were treating their suspects with respect. With the national narrative that’s happening police-wise, that’s not often something you get to see.”
The online interview showed how the subject was condensed for space:
You rode around with real Battle Creek, Mich., cops to prepare for this role. What did you learn?
I had the chance to see the things that make better television — so raiding houses or pulling people over — and also the more banal aspects of police work: what happens when you’re sitting in your office for five hours doing paperwork, how you get a warrant through the process of probable cause.
Sounds thrilling.
This is going to sound hokey, and I really don’t mean to sound like I’m sugar-coating it, but the most surprising thing to me was the way in which officers were treating their suspects with respect. With the national narrative that’s happening police-wise, that’s not often something you get to see. Their approach is very different from the big cities I grew up in, where things probably look more like Cops than Battle Creek.
When asked if he was “fist-bump buddies with Obama,” Penn said “He’s exactly what you see on TV, that gregarious side, the ability to shake off things that shouldn’t weigh you down. The fist bumps are definitely part of that.”
