John Bunnell
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John Edwin Bunnell (born May 25, 1944) is a former American sheriff of
Multnomah County, Oregon Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland– Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. T ...
. Bunnell is best known for presenting '' World's Wildest Police Videos'' between 1998 and 2001 and its revival briefly in 2012.


Background

Bunnell was born in
Pendleton, Oregon Pendleton is a city and the county seat of Umatilla County, Oregon. The population was 17,107 at the time of the 2020 census, which includes approximately 1,600 people who are incarcerated at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution. Pendleton ...
. He obtained a degree in social sciences before joining the Multnomah County Sheriff's Department in January 1969. Bunnell managed the drugs and vice unit in the 1980s. Between 1989 and 1990, Multnomah County's Sheriff's Office was featured in 15 episodes of '' COPS'' and in 1991, 13 episodes of '' American Detective'', which he also hosted. He was appointed
Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...
of Multnomah County when the previous sheriff, Robert G. Skipper, retired in 1994 before the end of his term. Bunnell took the oath of office on November 30, 1994 and served until May 1995. In the spring of 1995, Bunnell ran against Dan Noelle for Multnomah County Sheriff, losing the election to Noelle, who assumed office in June, 1995. He is usually referred to as "Sheriff John Bunnell" despite no longer being active in law enforcement; this is occasionally shown as "''Sheriff John Bunnell et'". His son, Mark, is a corrections deputy with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office and was first seen with his father on an episode of ''COPS'' as a teenager back in 1989. His ''COPS'' segments involved drug crimes as seen in this video.


Media appearances

His appearances on several early episodes of '' COPS'' conducting drug stings led to him hosting ''World's Wildest Police Videos''. Bunnell attained a
cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
due to his over-the-top commentary style. Bunnell hosted the show, which originally ran from 1998 to 2001 and again since 2012, describing situations featured on the program as they developed and offering personal opinions about the criminals and the police that pursued them using cliches', innuendos and double meanings such as "This man decided to rob a bank. Now he'll learn ''crime doesn't pay''". Bunnell's hosting of ''World's Wildest Police Videos'' led to him hosting a similar show, ''Train Wrecks'', as well as many other police related specials, such as ''World's Scariest Police Stings'' and ''World's Craziest Police Chases''. He also appeared on ''
America's Most Wanted ''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of i ...
''. Bunnell lends his voice to the Sony PlayStation game ''World's Scariest Police Chases'', warning, "Due to the graphic nature of this game, player discretion is advised," similar to the warning at the beginning of the counterpart television program. He has also had minor acting roles in '' Ghost World'' and ''
Bad Santa ''Bad Santa'' is a 2003 American Christmas black comedy film directed by Terry Zwigoff and written by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa. It stars Billy Bob Thornton, with a supporting cast of Tony Cox, Lauren Graham, Brett Kelly, Lauren Tom, Joh ...
'', both directed by Terry Zwigoff. In "
Quagmire's Baby "Quagmire's Baby" is the sixth episode of the eighth season of the animated comedy series '' Family Guy''. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 15, 2009. The episode centers on neighbor Glenn Quagmire, who suddenly disco ...
" and " Something, Something, Something, Dark Side", both 2009 episodes of ''
Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their ch ...
'', Bunnell provided the voice of himself during gags that referenced ''World's Wildest Police Videos''. In 2010, Bunnell appeared on commercials for the
Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...
Block Party.


See also

* C. W. Jensen


References


External links

*
Multnomah County Sheriff's Office
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunnell, John People from Pendleton, Oregon Oregon sheriffs 1944 births Living people American television personalities Male television personalities People from Multnomah County, Oregon