File Photo by Eric Ayres The Wheeling Police Department remains under contract with the REELZ television documentary series “On Patrol: Live” for the next two months, but film crews have been patrolling in different communities and not in the Friendly City in recent weeks.

WHEELING – The Wheeling Police Department’s collaboration with “On Patrol: Live” is still under contract, but crews from the popular television series have not been in town in months.

Many local fans of the live police documentary show broadcast nationwide on REELZ have been wondering why segments from Wheeling have not been appearing on the weekend broadcasts lately.

“They filmed per the agreement – like they do with all of the other agencies – for a period of time,” Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger said. “Our contract has not expired, but they stopped filming sometime around the first of the year.”

According to the chief, the on-location filming sessions at each participating police agency across the country apparently occur for certain periods of time before crews relocate to another city. There is a possibility that the “On Patrol: Live” film crews may still return to Wheeling sometime over the course of the next couple of months, Schwertfeger said.

“Our contract is good through May,” he noted. “They could come back, or they may not.”

The show features real-time police activity and interactions in a number of participating departments during each show, which airs from 9 p.m. to midnight every Friday and Saturday night on REELZ. Filming in the Wheeling area began in early September of last year.

“There was a whole team that would ride with each individual officer,” Schwertfeger noted. “They had two crews on at a time. It was not every night, but they would also film during the week.”

The chief explained that footage taken during the week would potentially air during the otherwise live weekend broadcasts at times when activity may have been slow.

“The only nights they were live were Friday and Saturday,” Schwertfeger said.

Hosted by Dan Abrams along with a panel of experts, “On Patrol: Live” provides minute-by-minute live analysis as the show documents for viewers in real time the everyday work of police officers on patrol in their communities. Wheeling was the first law enforcement agency in the state of West Virginia to participate in the series.

“We found ‘On Patrol: Live’ – their staff and their teams – to be of the utmost professionalism,” Schwertfeger said. “They were very professional, very skilled in what they do, and they were great to work with – so yes, we would welcome them back.”

Schwertfeger speculated that during the winter months, it would make sense that film crews would focus on communities in warmer weather states where more activity would be taking place outdoors while police were on patrol. Other participating police agencies in areas with larger populations often see much more action than Wheeling.

“There wasn’t always as much activity in Wheeling as there was in some of the other communities,” the chief said, acknowledging that from a community and a policing perspective that is not a bad thing. “That’s a very good thing.”

Schwertfeger said that when the Wheeling Police Department was regularly featured on the show late last year, he would watch it each night in case there were incidents unfolding that for any reason should not be aired. There was a slight delay to the live broadcasts, and both the department and the show’s producers could opt to cut away at any moment, when necessary.

“I monitored it because I had the opportunity to cut anything I wanted to during the delay,” he explained. “So I would see more than what the national audience would see.”

According to Schwertfeger, the “On Patrol: Live” team during their filming stretch in the city was very complementary to the local police force.

“Their feedback of the Wheeling Police Department was very positive,” Schwertfeger said, noting that the television crews expressed appreciation for the police agency’s professionalism.