The Rookies premiered on A&E on October 21, 2008. In hurricane-ravaged Louisiana, a new class of rookies emerges from the sanctity of the police academy and immediately enters some of the deadliest streets in America. Jefferson Parish, Louisiana is a place where crime is rising fast and with the town in need of protection, Sheriff Harry Lee must call upon The Rookies. As they leave the academy, the rookies begin a 12-week street patrol, riding shotgun with a Field Training Officer (FTO). The FTOs try to teach the rookies how to survive as police officers with a full repertoire of serious lessons they use to challenge the new recruits in order to get them street ready.
