On Saturday, Sept. 11, Fox's venerable police documentary series "Cops" launches its 23rd season with its 800th episode.

But there are still places where executive producer John Langley's camera crews are not welcome to shoot police activity.

"Chicago," Langley says, "and Honolulu. In the case of Honolulu, I think it's because the Hawaiian Visitors Bureau is very strong, and they're afraid that it will somehow suggest to tourists that there is crime in Hawaii. God forbid that notion, right?"

Asked if the bureau is aware that CBS' reimagined version of the pistol-packing crime drama "Hawaii 5-0" is shooting in the Aloha State right now, Langley says, "Fictional crime is OK, but if it's real crime … there's a tendency amongst some city fathers to avoid the topic. They want to pretend that it doesn't exist."

One could understand sunny Honolulu's reluctance to show its dark underbelly to surfers and beach bunnies, but when asked what rough-and-tumble Chicago's excuse is, Langley says, "I don't know. It's an entrenched bureaucracy. I think everything depends on what the mayor wants, and maybe the mayor doesn't want us there."

But Langley has found a way in, more or less, for episodes that just finished filming for the new season.

"We filmed with the Cook County Sheriff's Department," he says, "so we have filmed in the Chicago area. We're an invitational show. We don't go where we're not wanted."

At least one tourist destination doesn't mind "Cops" being in town.

"We, of course, shot in Las Vegas," says Langley, "and that doesn't seem to deter tourism."

While Hawaii has given "Cops" the cold shoulder, Alaska extended a warm welcome. Langley recalls an episode in which an Alaska state trooper talked down an angry suspect.

"I said, 'You showed a lot of restraint and compassion and understanding for this guy,' " says Langley. "He said, 'Listen, we have long nights here and long days, and I have to live with everybody here.' "