John Bunnell

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Sheriff John Bunnell

John Bunnell (born in Pendleton, Oregon) was the host of the television series World's Wildest Police Videos, which ran from 1998-2002. Reruns of the show are consistently played on various television channels in a number of countries.

1 Background
2 World's Wildest Police Videos
3 Other Work
4 Footnotes
5 External links

[edit] Background

John Bunnell obtained a degree in social sciences before moving into law enforcement in January 1969. He began his career in Multnomah County, Oregon - rapidly turning to narcotics enforcement. He appeared on several early episodes of COPS conducting undercover drug stings. He was appointed Sheriff of Multnomah County on November 30, 1994 and served as Sheriff until May of 1995. He is usually referred to as "Sheriff John Bunnell" despite no longer being an active law enforcement officer. In his television appearances he is credited as "Sheriff John Bunnell (ret.)"

[edit] World's Wildest Police Videos

He has attained a cult following in the past few years, mostly in the UK, which has been put down to his overtly over-the-top commentary style, characterised by police-related jokes and puns. His voice has sometimes been noted as one of the most melodramatic in television, and is often seen as a highlight of the show. It has being described as using "cheesy, over exagerated melodrama, blatent overuse of illiteration [sic] and an extreme excess of cliche prison references".^[1]

In the episodes of World's Wildest Police Videos, Bunnell usually takes viewers through each of the pursuits to their conclusion, which often ends in a wreck and/or arrest of the suspect. He is often assisted throughout the show by Ex-Captain C.W. Jensen who provides expert analysis for many of the more exciting police chases and offers his advanced knowledge to the show.

[edit] Other Work

John Bunnell also lends his voice to the Sony Playstation game World's Scariest Police Chases, in which he introduces each of the missions and, at the very beginning of the game, gives his "viewer discretion" speech as he does on the TV show.

Bunnell made a cameo appearance in the 2002 film Ghost World, and in 2003's Bad Santa. Both films were directed by Terry Zwigoff.