Reno 911! is in some respects a parody of the long-running television show Cops. The show features members of the fictional Reno Sheriff's Department (a non-existent law enforcement body created so as not to offend the Reno Police Department or Washoe County Sheriffs Department), who are videotaped during the course of their duties, sometimes addressing the camera directly as though being interviewed. The force has problems with racism, unrequited attractions, promiscuity, passive-aggressive feuds, drug use, and other dysfunctional troubles that supply much of the show's humor.