Rick Detrio Knows It’s Not Always What It’s Like on TV

Many of us are all too familiar with the rush and addictive quality of the legal or crime television shows offered on so many networks. Indeed, the genre is so popular, it is hard to find someone who does not watch one crime show or another. The subgenres vary widely, but one common thread between them is the excitement and glamor they portray.

For those individuals who have had actual experience working in these fields, they know the truth is far from the world portrayed on TV. Rick Detrio spent fourteen years working as a DEA agent, and he knows that the actuality of his career was a far cry from the constant excitement portrayed on television.

That is not to say, however, that Rick Detrio did not see his fair share of action. When he was assigned as the Lead Agent in the DEA’s Miami Field Division Department for Gang Activities, Rick Detrio went through a harrowing yearlong investigation. The Department was a multi-agency initiative that culminated in the arrest and prosecution of more than 20 high-profile gang members, a wild success. At many points throughout that year, and indeed, in plenty of other times during his career, Rick Detrio felt as though his job could actually have a spot in a television show or movie – except the danger and fear he experienced were real. 

Personally, Rick Detrio has real trouble watching these shows that everyone else he knows seems to love. For him, they are both wildly inaccurate, and yet at the same time, hit just a little too close to home.