Stream It Or Skip It: ‘PD True’ on Paramount+, a true crime docuseries told from the POV of police personnel (2024)

PD True streams its entire ten-episode debut season at once on Paramount+, with police officers and other law enforcement officials recounting cases, killings, shootings, and murder plots from their perspective as first responders. The first season gets right into it with a two-part episode about the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and will also cover such stories as the 2022 New York Subway shootings – that’s another two-parter – a murder plot against a Playboy Playmate, and a thievery ring that operated throughout South Florida. For each, PD True presents the authorities involved in conversation, features their actual body cam footage wherever possible, and builds atmosphere with access to actual 911 calls and surrounding police radio chatter.

PD TRUE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: “Pulse was one of the more well-known LGBT clubs in Orlando. There were 300 people in the club, and he immediately came in there and started hip-firing with a rifle.”

The Gist: On June 12, 2016, Scott Smith was the Orlando police department’s midnight watch commander when calls of “shots fired” started blowing up the radio. Now retired, Smith is sitting with former Miami police chief Jorge Colina and Mark Canty, undersheriff for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the latter of whom was also called in on the night of the Pulse shooting. Smith describes racing through the streets of Orlando, hearing gunshots in the background of radio calls from officers on the scene, and arriving there himself within minutes. Then footage from Smith’s own dash and body cams shows him pulling his rifle from the trunk of his cruiser and stepping through the chaos of wounded and fleeing club goers. “At this point, I know I’m the highest ranking officer, so I just took charge of things. I get on the radio, ‘I need a SWAT call-out. I need everybody here, now.’”

As the narrator of PD True says, “people love telling stories about us, but they don’t know the half of it.” And the series intro drops in a few shots from CBS police procedurals like Blue Bloods and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation before it cuts to the active duty and retired officers, who sit in a restaurant where they relate their story. As more body cam and aerial footage from the night of the incident appears, PD True also presents an animated diagram of Pulse’s layout, with the positions of both the police and the shooter highlighted. By 2:20am, Smith and the other officers had contained the gunman in a bathroom. “What I don’t know is, did he kill himself? Or does he have hostages? Because there’s still people alive down there.” And by 2:55, with Canty and his SWAT officers gathered at Pulse, it was only a question of when they’d go in. “If he was gonna kill himself, he would’ve done it by now.”

The first episode of PD True is a two-parter, so it builds to a moment of tension, with episode two prepared for a resolution. It’s harrowing enough, as Smith and Canty describe their actions that night, and the horrific discovery of numerous bodies inside Pulse. But PD True becomes even more gripping when it plays recordings of the shooter himself, taunting the police response to the tragedy he created.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? PD True is from the same team behind FBI True, which it matches pretty closely in format, and Never Seen Again, a docuseries that approaches disappearances from the perspective of those left behind.

Our Take: It’s a credit to individuals like Scott Smith and Mark Canty that their description of what went down the night of the Pulse mass shooting doesn’t sound like police at a press conference using their work voices to flatten the event into just another factual account. The emotions are real, whether they’re describing tactical moves made or the terrible scope of what they discovered inside the club. This genuineness feels inspired by format — cops talking to other cops about cop stuff, without an external interviewer — and it’s a quality shared by FBI True, PD True’s companion series, so they’ve certainly found a way into this material that stands out in a crowded true crime field.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: As PD True gears up for the second part of its two-episode premiere, it’s rather chilling to hear recordings of the gunman’s calls to police on the night of his rampage. “By the way, there’s some vehicles outside that have some bombs, just to let you know…”

Sleeper Star: Jorge Colina is himself a former police officer, and in PD True he combines on-the-job experience with the role of interviewer, asking Scott Smith and Mark Canty pointed questions about the Pulse event while also giving them the space to answer freely.

Most Pilot-y Line: Mark Canty describes his mood on the night of the Pulse shooting. “You’re not thinking about the victims. You’re thinking about, ‘I gotta get in there as quick as I can, find this killer, and eliminate him.’ That is the quickest way to save other people’s lives.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. PD True is pretty straightforward as true crime docuseries go, giving members of law enforcement space to describe what they’ve been involved in from a professional standpoint while highlighting their personal perspective.

Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.