I used to like COPS when I was younger.
Mostly, I wanted to get inside the head of LEOs because I was not able to legally CCW and I was wondering what my chances of getting nabbed were. (answer: nearly zero)
At least on the show, it is 90% them pulling over old crappy cars and talking to the toothless, the shameless, the brainless, etc.
Half the people are on something and voluntarily allow their vehicle to be searched.
If you learn anything from COPS, it should be that "looking" like a criminal/scum/streetwalker/domestic, etc will usually cause you to get lots and lots of attention.
It seems there is so much "obvious" criminal activity in some places that they cops have no time to waste on "normal" looking working class people. The small community I was from has bored cops just looking for a reason to write you up - Sacramento cops will not even look at you unless you are firing from the vehicle or exceeding the speed limit by more than 50 MPH, etc.