Live PD, On Patrol: Live, and the Resurrection of Reality Policing (continued)
Policing as entertainment is far from dead. (2/2)
Author’s Note: This is Part Two of a two-part series. If you haven’t already, be sure to read Part One before moving forward!
If you appreciate works like this but aren’t necessarily interested in upgrading to a paid subscription, please consider buying me a coffee – this series didn’t write itself!
In the summer of 2020, amidst a global pandemic, the death of George Floyd prompted millions of Americans to participate in a series of demonstrations protesting a festering, widespread epidemic of police brutality. Marking the largest protest in US history to date, brands and media entities alike scrambled to adjust to a newly demanded set of norms. Films like Gone with the Wind, romanticizing a bygone era of the antebellum south, were pulled from streaming services. The Aunt Jemima brand of syrup and pancake mix was renamed Pearl Milling Company, the NFL’s Washington Redskins became the Washington Commanders, and Disney theme parks announced the re-theming of the iconic Splash Mountain log flume ride.
In this era of change, reality mainstays COPS and Live PD both faced abrupt cancellations. When investigators revealed that Live PD crews had destroyed video footage capturing the death of Javier Ambler, it seemed that the show’s long-term fate was sealed. For critics, there was a brief glimmer of hope that a nearly 40-year history of cable copaganda was at long last coming to an end.
However, the moment Live PD was pulled off the air, petitioning commenced demanding that it be returned to television.
Across Twitter and Facebook, the devoted #livePDnation called for boycotts of A&E and its advertisers, accusing spineless executives of bending to the whims of ANTIFA radicals. The presence of a few “bad apples” doesn’t equate to a spoiled bunch, argued fans unaware of the original bad apple adage1. The most vocal of these voices was none other than show host Dan Abrams. Immediately after receiving news of Live PD’s cancellation, he shared the following statement:
While it was a statement lacking the vitriol embedded in the sometimes semi-literate complaints flooding social media, it concluded with a concrete promise to friends and foes alike; “More to come”.
Dan’s insistence that the show be brought back was not particularly surprising – after all, the intersection of law, crime, and entertainment had been his bread and butter for the past three decades. As a fresh-faced 20-something straight out of Columbia Law School, he covered the sensationalized trials of OJ Simpson and Jack Kevorkian on a fledgling Court TV back in the 90s. This gig naturally segwayed into coveted anchoring gigs on MSNBC and ABC. All the while, Abrams established himself as one of the nation’s leading legal analysts.
His knack for providing real-time legal commentary – and, by extension, providing context and justification for questionable or disturbing police actions – made Abrams the perfect candidate to host Live PD. Branding himself as a political centrist, Dan added a semblance of neutrality to the program as a man whose role was to inform viewers of the relevant laws at play in a given scenario, not dish out judgment. What is policing supposed to be, if not the enforcement of laws unclouded by personal biases of right and wrong?
Aside from his extensive career as a legal analyst, Dan Abrams has transformed into something of a self-made media mogul, making him all the more aware of the untapped potential being thrown to the wayside for the sake of unhappy masses. Abrams Media, his eponymous, OTT media-service company formed in 2009, has been cranking out content spiritually similar to Live PD for years. The Law&Crime Network has probably the most evident examples of this, showcasing sensational body cam footage with titles such as “Woman Begs God to Get Her Out Of DUI Arrest” and “Cops Handcuff 11-Year-Old Boy for Allegedly Having a Firearm”. Abrams has long proselytized to skeptics that the “transparency” offered by Law&Crime and Live PD alike are crucial – essential, even – in scrutinizing and understanding the rights and wrongs of police practices2. And while there may very well be truth buried in that sentiment, it’s been made abundantly clear that right or wrong, policing as entertainment is both popular and highly profitable.
Knowing this, Abrams promoted the show through whatever means he could following the cancellation. In an interview with Briana Keilar the day after the official cancellation announcement, Abrams worked to distance Live PD from COPS, implying that his show was something infinitely more pure and necessary than its predecessor:
There’s a huge difference between those shows…COPS was like a highlight reel of crazy moments that happened with police officers. Live PD actually followed police officers in real time, as it was happening. So you got to see the beginning, the middle, and the end of the story. And I think it provided important context, as there’s a call nationally for more police officers to wear body cams, I would think we’d want more Live PD, not less.
This eventually devolved into the following heated exchange, in which Abrams defended the questionable practices that come when news and entertainment are wed into a single beast:
In the days, weeks, and months that followed, Abrams set up a series of media appearances to answer lingering questions. He vehemently stated on multiple occasions that he and his co-hosts were completely unaware of the Ambler incident before June 2020, and that the silence on A&E’s part stemmed back to a standing policy not to air fatalities3. He then went on to claim that Live PD allegedly kept the footage for three months while Williamson County conducted an internal investigation and only disposed of the footage4 when that investigation was deemed complete. Travis County DA Margaret Moore – and everyone else, for that matter – was denied access to the footage simply “because she never asked”5. Through Abrams Media outlets, social media posts, and the Dan Abrams Live newscast (which airs weekdays at 9pm EST on NewsNation), fans were repeatedly assured that Live PD would one day return.
”A Live PD-type show would have to be on a place that has the resources and has the stomach for it,” Abrams once postulated on “Coptales and Cocktails”, a horrendously named, now defunct podcast hosted by Sgt. Sean “Sticks” Larkin. Eventually, the remnants of the Live PD team found just such a place in Reelz.
Reelz (then known as ReelzChannel) launched in 2006 and promptly proceeded to spiral into a fifteen-year-long identity crisis. Initially focusing on news and commentary surrounding the entertainment industry, after some time Reelz began padding its schedule with syndicated episodes of decades-old sitcoms (think 3rd Rock from the Sun, Ally McBeal, and Cheers). It picked up docudramas abandoned by larger networks and award ceremonies that had no established home to turn to. Reelz reeked of desperation – it was a bottomfeeder in the cable television ecosystem. The small audience it garnered slowly dwindled year by year.
Live PD changed all of that in 2022. That year, the channel finally discerned what it would become – the new home to Live PD.
Risk came with the prospect of taking on the series, and Reelz certainly knew that. But the promise of vast reward in the face of certain death left the channel with little to lose. To avoid relying on Live PD entirely, Reelz set to work picking up a variety of cop-adjacent odds and ends, including titles like Hollywood 911, Steven Seagal: Lawman, and my personal favorite, JAIL6. Only one inconvenient detail stood in the way of Reelz becoming a cable empire sustained by petty crime; per their original contract, A&E retained exclusive ownership of all things Live PD in perpetuity.
To get around this, the show decided to rename itself. Initially, the name PD Live was proposed as a solution, but after receiving a cease-and-desist from A&E, On Patrol: Live was born.
The name change did not, of course, stop media outlets from using the titles interchangeably. “Live PD Returns as On Patrol: Live on New Network”, read a headline from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Variety wrote an article claiming “Live PD To Be Revived on Reelz This Summer as On Patrol: Live, Hosted by Dan Abrams”. Dan Abrams himself tweeted, “Live PD is coming back” on June 8. 2022, going on to thank the #livePDnation for their patience.
Naturally, On Patrol: Live became an immediate hit and sent Reelz skyrocketing upwards, high above a plethora of dying channels slowly starving thanks to increases in streaming service subscriptions. In 2023, Reelz became the 37th most-watched channel in America, which doesn’t sound particularly impressive until you realize that Reelz is beating out long-established channels like MTV, Nickelodeon, and Animal Planet by tens of thousands of viewers. Since the premiere of On Patrol: Live, Reelz's average viewership has increased by over 275%.
Executive producer John Zito stated that Reelz was ultimately selected for the revival “because they believe in the show in its original format and what the show was all about“. Perhaps this unbreakable faith explains why On Patrol: Live is, quite literally, the same exact show as Live PD.
Both shows begin with fast-paced percussive music, virtually indistinguishable from one another. Paired with this is a bumper, consisting of white sans-serif text on a black background. These bumpers use nearly identical language, advising viewer discretion and clarifying that all suspects are innocent until proven guilty. Both shows then proceed to toggle between live police footage and studio commentary.
There are few (if any) significant differences between the Live PD and On Patrol: Live studios. The rooms feature blue-lit backgrounds with bright red trim, reminiscent of the flashing lights that adorn squad cars. Multiple television screens of varying sizes surveil incoming footage from cameras across the country. In the middle of the room is a waist-high desk, which Dan Abrams always stands to the left side of. Sgt. Sean “Sticks” Larkin is always seated in the middle, always flanked by a third host (Tom Morris Jr. on Live PD, Curtis Wilson on OP: Live). All of the men drink from identical logo-branded black mugs, which always seem to be situated to their right.
There’s a bit of variation among the law enforcement departments, but not much. Many of the departments that were featured on Live PD are the same ones featured on OP: Live. Popular individual officers, such as Dep. “Downtown” Danny Brown of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, make frequent appearances on both programs. A few new departments have been added to the mix to compensate for Live PD mainstays no longer willing or able to host camera crews. However, new OP: Live departments are often located just a few towns over from previous Live PD hotspots. For the average viewer, there is no noticeable difference between footage coming from Pomona PD and Fullerton PD, whose headquarters are just 20 miles apart.
Before showing footage from a location, both programs flash a giant map of the US across the screen, meant to illustrate to viewers where the action is taking place. In the lower left-hand corner, information such as officer names and event descriptions appear. Dual screens are frequently used to capture events such as car chases. The angles cameramen utilize are identical, as are the motions and colors used to present graphics.
During particularly slow stretches, both shows feature “Crime of the Week”, “Wanted”, and “Missing” segments. Both “Missing” segments almost always cut to Angeline Hartmann of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who proceeds to provide details on the featured missing person. OP: Live also occupies the same time slot Live PD once dominated (9pm-12am EST every Friday and Saturday night).
These similarities are not borne of my biased opinions – A&E is actively pursuing a copyright infringement lawsuit against OP: Live’s production company, Big Fish Entertainment, which cites all of the points just mentioned.
Despite the cancellation of the original series, the lawsuit argues, “at no point did [A&E] relinquish its rights to the show”. This pushback for the show rights makes sense when looking at A&E’s YouTube channel, which is currently 10.6 million subscribers strong. As recently as two hours prior to the publication of this essay, A&E has regularly uploaded previously aired Live PD clips, each of which garners tens of thousands of views. As much as A&E wanted credit in 2020 for canceling the Bad Police Show they made millions off of, the unfortunate truth is that the network has no sincere desire to let go of a gift that keeps on giving.
Unsurprisingly, On Patrol: Live refuses to go down without a fight. Reelz and Big Fish argue that the concept of an unscripted live police show is not itself copyrightable, nor were most of the elements that comprised Live PD7. But guilt or innocence in the copyright suit is almost irrelevant. Time and time again, proponents contend that there’s some greater moral imperative to keep shows like On Patrol: Live rolling, that the good that comes from shining a spotlight on US police practices far outweighs the sin of a little intellectual property theft. As John Zito professed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly:
“We were taken off the air [in 2020] because there was this belief that the show was "copaganda"8 and was too pro-law enforcement — but for people who watched the show, we felt that it was very much not the case. A lot of people who criticized the show had never actually seen the show before…We still feel that the show is that precise forum where these conversations are had about law enforcement in America”
Following the cancellation of Live PD, Dan Abrams expressed a similar sentiment:
“I fear sometimes that people who criticize the show didn't watch it. Because very rarely was there specific criticism of things that happened on the show… Live PD at times doesn't portray police officers in the most positive light…We're in a society where we're talking about how important it is for accountability. And yet now, we are saying we want to shut down the cameras coming to Live PD”
The notion of On Patrol: Live as some sort of tool designed to help do-gooders help monitor police is, of course, fucking preposterous.
The show is (and always has been) a beast carefully curated, only made possible with the cooperation and consent of police officers not keen on being humiliated in front of a national audience. Every action – no matter how brutal or banal – is justified by a panel of “experts” on what behavior is right and what behavior is wrong. When someone behaves badly in front of the camera, there are seemingly no real repercussions. As Live PD’s tenure in Williamson County repeatedly proved, the showrunners are unwilling to take action when faced with something horrible. Departments clearly can’t reliably be trusted to properly police themselves, either. This leaves the viewer, who may or may not be able to properly recognize inappropriate practices due to decades of indoctrination via reality policing, with the responsibility of calling out when something is wrong. And frankly, as much as the hosts love to hype up the power of the fanatical #OPnation, what’s the most a single disturbed viewer can realistically hope to accomplish? Leave a few angry comments on a Reddit thread? Stop watching and bring ratings down by some infinitesimal fraction?
Both Abrams and Zito have brushed off criticism, dismissing those with gripes as having not watched the show. They cite the loiterers, the dealings with the drunk and drugged, the check-ins on domestic disturbances, and all of the necessary “boring” tasks that make up a huge part of the show. They know very well that it is easy to tune into a 15-minute segment, not notice anything egregious, and come to the conclusion the show’s apparent hyperviolence is nothing more than an exaggeration.
Unfortunately, I have now watched many hours of On Patrol: Live and can attest that fuckery does not always come in the form of officers beating the snot out of some bystander.
Yes, there are plenty of scenes in which police are doing nothing more than the things necessary to keep society safe and civilized – ticketing erratic drivers, redirecting irate individuals suffering from some undisclosed mental illness, the sort of situations cops likely spend the majority of their shifts everyday handling. But seamlessly mixed in is a lot of shameless lying, especially concerning the purpose of the show’s intrusive camera crews9. For every instance in which an officer displays an inkling of patience or compassion, you’ll find a segment that showcases a distinct lack of empathy10. There is an uncountable number of snickers directed at people who clearly need help, but never seem to receive it. And while there are no laws that prevent police officers from acting like dickheads, their callousness is never even acknowledged. Little by little, each scene cements that dehumanization and a lack of basic courtesy are somehow imperative to a hero’s job.
And whether they’re aware of it or not, it conditions viewers to accept when something truly questionable or downright wrong does happen. And in the absence of some drastic change, it is only a matter of time until something truly horrific happens on OP: Live.
While none of the departments featured on OP: Live are as outwardly problematic as late 2010s Williamson County (in fairness, I’m not sure that such a feat is realistically possible), the show still hasn’t shied away from featuring law enforcement agencies littered with red flags.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office11, for instance, recently had to arrest three of its own officers within six weeks. In one of those instances, a vodka-addled Det. Michael Borrecco told two Albuquerque residents at a Circle K to “get the fuck outta here, or I’m going to take your fucking soul.” before proceeding to point a loaded gun in their faces12. Meanwhile, the Fullerton Police Department is infamous for its role in the 2011 death of Kelly Thomas, which was deemed “one of the worst police beatings in [US] history”. And while one could argue that the memory of six officers battering a schizophrenic man until he choked to death on his own broken bones and blood is something distant, the fact remains that Fullerton PD killed an unarmed13 man showing signs of mental illness outside of a McDonald’s just a few weeks ago.
Over the last decade, the departments featured on OP: Live have collectively killed at least 145 people14. Some of those incidents were made in self-defense. Others could be justified as necessary to protect innocent bystanders in immediate danger. But quite a few (in my opinion anyway) are unconscionable. I’ve included their names and links to their stories at the bottom of this essay, so that you may draw your own conclusions rather than rely on my words alone.
Surprisingly, the only place that has taken any action at all to prevent making the mistakes of its past is the state of Texas. As you may have noticed from the map above, OP: Live is conspicuously absent from Texas, despite maintaining a solid presence across the state in the days of Live PD. That’s because, in 2021, state legislators passed a bill that states the following:
A law enforcement agency is prohibited from authorizing a person to accompany and film a peace officer acting in the line of duty for the purpose of producing a reality show.
The law was named after Javier Ambler. It is the closest thing that the man will ever get to retribution, as in March 2024 the deputies responsible for his death were acquitted of all charges by a Travis County jury.
Fans may argue that all of these misfortunes were necessary losses, and that we need Live PD, OP: Live, or whatever you want to call it, now more than ever. But as Friday evening creeps closer and camera crews prepare to buckle up alongside officers on duty, I am struggling – just as I struggled four years ago – to understand why we need any of this at all. What is to be gained from gawking at segments showing handgun-wielding toddlers removed by DYFS and shame-filled parents cuffed for child endangerment? How do we become better by watching addicts a thousand miles away come back from the brink of death thanks to a fortunately-timed Narcan spritz?
In my heart, I know that the answers are simple. There’s nothing to be gained, and we don’t become better, because that was never the point.
All this is, and all it ever will be, is the sacrifice of one another for the sake of fleeting entertainment.
The names of those killed by OP: Live departments in the last year include15:
Scott William Thompson, Alejandro Campos Rios, Austin Heiselman, Hector Hernandez, Jesus Estrada Leon, Hannah Williams, Daniel Espinoza, Katherine Brazeau, Matthew Thomas, Gregory Howe, Harvey Cantrell, Phillip Thomas Marsh, John Wurms, Emmanuel Alquisiras, Jose Guillermo Flores Colon, Mario B Simoes, Daniel Donarski, Ronald Edward Brown III, Jeffrey Sims, Robert Teter, Timothy Wagner, Derek Cruice, Edward P Miller, Kenneth Morrow, Jeremy Bradsher, Steven Clark Jr, Rasheem Edwards, Rick Lee Miller, Eliezer Perez, Lori Jean Canada, Dustin D Odom, James Leroy Marker, Joseph Napoli, Christian Oliver Dubrino, James Johnson, John Beaudoin, Joshua Reese, Ingmar Von Strandberg, Matthew Moore, Nekiylo Dawayne Graves, Jason Paul O’Bannon, Michael Anthony Bonini, Ismael Miranda, John Murray, Najee Seabrooks, Hui Zhang, Thelonius McKnight, Luan Leo Agolli, Joseph Ramos, Jared Romero, Colby Atkins, Taylor John Crabb, Raphael Marquez, Mario Armando Diaz, Elijah Rochie, Ezekiel Meza, David Sanchez, Elisha Lucero, Martin Jim, Isaac Padilla, Matthew Joseph Scudero, Raymond Cruz, Miguel Gonzales, Jacquelyn Burke, Edgar Rene Alvarado, Joseph Jaramillo, Billy Grimm, Adam Padilla, Manuel Flores, John Chavez, Irvin D Moorer-Charley, Zachary Alexander Kinard, James Jennings Jr., Eddie Hollins, Mitchell Alanda St. Clair Jr., Kong Nay, Brent Conrad, Joseph Hart, Robert Lee Clark Jr., Laura Lemieux, Jerome Thomas Caldwell, Brian Eugene Rice, Erica Allen, Albert Alderman, Jameson Turnbull, Jason Means, Prince Jones, Christopher Harris, Kwamaine O’Neal, Damon Barstad, Lamar Richardson, Dale Slocum, Shane Marsh, Reginald Marshall, Thomas Bean, Michael Clifton, Benjamin Joseph Remley, Randy Lansang, Andrew Mansilla, Jerric Harris, Jamil Omar Harvey, James Gleason, Jose Peña, Jaime Valdez, Alejandro Diaz, Darnell Trevon Travis, Travis Tarrants, Daverion Kinard, Alonso Malagon, Orion Godbout, Vincent Avila, James Daniel Hall, Martin Arturo Rivera, Santino Burce, Andrew Driver, James Moala Kofu, Curtis Kimbrough, Zach Anderson, Michael Kifer, Ryan Brett Thomas, Alteria Woods, Susan Teel, Dustin Allen Phillips, Michael Adams, Jackie L Haynes, Rafael Jevon Minniefield, Michael Johnson, David Wesley Carroll, Anthony Richard Fields II, Sterling Ramon Alavache, Thomas Michael Carney, Joshua Dewayne Hammock, Guillermo Exconde Mendoza, Debi Lynn Thorkelson, Donna Weaver, and Joseph Blake Powell.
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Linguists can trace the original proverb – “A rotten apple quickly infects its neighbor” – as far back as the 14th century. This is probably based on the fact that bad apples did in fact spoil entire barrels of fruit before scientists developed strategies to keep apples from premature rotting.
Quote from Abrams to the Washington Post: “I think in an era where people are generally more supportive of body cameras on police officers, on both sides now, that people would say this is a good thing to see more police in action.”
In the Keilar interview, Abrams confirmed that the Live PD camera had captured other deaths throughout its tenure. While there’s a strong likelihood that the majority of these deaths had nothing to do with police interference (i.e. car wrecks, overdoses), the mishandling of the Ambler case disturbingly calls to question whether other Javier Amblers that we’ll never know about might have been caught in the crossfire over the years.
According to Abrams, the policy at Live PD was to promptly dispose of all tapes after a few weeks. Evidently, production feared becoming a video repository that law enforcement could call upon. The official story is that Live PD didn’t want their materials to be used to unjustly prosecute citizens of crimes. Of course, the opposite could be true, in that the policy was put into place to protect the interests of officers behaving badly – after all, that is what happened in the case of Javier Ambler.
According to Live PD attorneys, anyway.
JAIL was the final project John Langley produced before he died in 2021. His son Morgan Langley co-produced the show, which would make for a wholesome collaboration if it wasn’t for the fact that the show was about real people languishing in real jails.
Hilariously, Big Fish and Reelz cite three distinctions differentiating the two shows: “(i) that on Live PD, Dan Abrams and the other hosts wore suits and on On Patrol: Live, they wore polo shirts; (ii) that the three hosts do not always sit in the same positions; and (iii) that the textual iconographies of the “Crime of the Week” segments differ.”
While representatives of the show might argue otherwise, it is absurd not to classify On Patrol: Live as ‘copaganda’. If the hero-worship fandom that’s developed around the show is not enough to convince you of that, then I invite you to watch s1 e62 of the program.
Around the 48-minute mark, the show cuts to Beech Grover, Indiana, where a family of four happens to be visiting the police station with their foster dog. The family is eager to share that the dog, who was “saved” by the Beech Grove officers at some unspecified time in some unspecified way, has been named “Sticks” in honor of OP: Live co-host Sgt. Sean “Sticks” Larkin. This scene is very clearly staged (who visits a police officer toting two kids and a puppy at 9 pm on a Saturday night?) and I’m not sure what point it might serve other than to very purposely shine a positive light on the officer and the department. At best, one could argue that it’s an update to a previous story, but it strays away from the live patrol footage we all apparently need so desperately.
For example: In s1 e48, a Daytona Beach witness notices mid-testimony that he is being filmed. “Oh man, what is this?” he asks, clearly unhappy with the fact that he is being filmed without his consent. The officer reassures that the camera is only documenting the officer as the witness continues to be filmed. Similarly, in s1 e75, around the 10-minute mark, a man is arrested by Richland County deputies for loitering in a “known narcotics area”. When the suspect notices the camera crew, he asks that the police “get the camera out of his face” and protests that he has not been asked permission to be filmed. The officer denies the request, responding, “That’s the least of the things you need to be worried about right now”. While this is not necessarily a lie, it’s clear that the officer is a) not forthcoming with the reason the suspects are being filmed and b) does not care that suspects did not wish to be filmed.
One instance that’s stuck with me occurs in s1 e53, when police respond to a call requesting an ambulance for a very drunk man lying in the hall of an apartment building. The man is so drunk that he cannot stand, and the caller is concerned that the drunk man doesn’t have a safe place to spend the frigid (12°F) night. When the caller expresses this concern, the police respond that they “are not a taxi service”. They then proceed to jostle the man, place him in handcuffs, point a large flashlight inches from his face, and question why he would need an ambulance (as if it is not abundantly clear that the man is extremely intoxicated). They drag the man outside and leave him slumped over on the ground in the cold as four of them proceed to arrest an irate neighbor. A fifth officer simply watches on instead of administering any sort of aid to the drunk man.
In fairness, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office stopped making appearances in January 2023, before the current “culture” scandal. However, BCSO’s Sheriff at the time, Manuel Gonzales, has been described as “scandal-plagued” and fought for years to keep body cameras off of his deputies, claiming that such footage “gives a lopsided, one-sided story” that would used to criticize officers unfairly. This sufficiently illustrates, I think, that the production crew failed to properly vet the departments featured on the show.
In addition to Det. Michael Borrecco, Dep. Adrienne Seay was arrested on January 1st for DWI. A few weeks later, Dep. Daniel Vasquez-Moreno was also arrested for DWI as well as battery after he fled from a physical altercation with his girlfriend.
The victim, Alejandro Campos Rios, is not always listed as unarmed because he was brandishing a belt, but realistically I think we can all agree that swinging a belt in the air uncooperatively does not warrant the death of a man.
This is according to a database compiled by mappingpoliceviolence.org, which, while extremely useful, does have some gaps. For instance, the data lacked information on the March 2024 death of Marcus Camacho at the hands of the Fontana Police. Camacho suffered from a mental health crisis before being shot dead in a Home Depot.
There are also at least seven instances in which a name was never released for the deceased.