JOHN Langley says there are a lot of us, so it’s okay. We can come out now, with our hands up.

Langley and I were supposed to talk about his new unscripted series, “Video Justice,” which appears Wednesday nights on Court TV at 8:00 and 8:30. Done. I got that out of the way quickly because my mission was to force Langley, the executive producer and creator of “Cops,” to take my signed confession:

I’m a “Cops” freak. I’m not sure why, how or when it happened, but it’s the monkey on my TV back. “Cops,” in its 18th season, is currently seen on three networks – Fox, FX and Court TV – often totaling more than 12 hours per week. Still, that’s not nearly enough.

There are preconceived misconceptions about “Cops” – that it’s a low form of entertainment that’s supposed to appeal to the inner Fascist in all of us – that simply aren’t supported by the show’s context, it’s diverse and loyal viewership and its steadily renewed presence.

Consider, said Langely, 62, that before reality shows began to infuse (and confuse) reality with fantasy, “Cops” was the pure thing. “It has no actors, no scripts and no narrators aside from the cops themselves. It’s totally unpredictable.” “Cops”‘ greatest strength is that it appeals to everyone’s need for revenge. The show can satisfy the transferred needs of reasonably honest folks who have been ripped-off and left feeling they were done dirt by a dirty guy. And deliver instant gratification when genuine alleged bad guys are caught and cuffed, several times per half-hour.

And there’s nothing political or impolitic about that. I hope.

Langley says that when “Cops” began he was a left-leaning Southern Californian who referred to cops as pigs. “I went into this prejudiced against ‘Cops.’ Obviously, that’s no longer the case.

“But it would have been much harder to take a camera and get into the backseat of cars driven by crooks. Crooks aren’t nearly as cooperative.” And yet, says Langley, crooks can be terribly vain. We often wonder how so many hundreds of bad guys and gals, caught on camera apparently breaking the law, allow their faces and/or their names to be used on “Cops.” “If they think that we’re the local news media, they often say, ‘Get that camera out of my face!’ But when we tell them we’re from the show, “Cops,” they typically say, ‘Oh, cool!’ And they’ll sign a release. It’s as if it’s a cultural phenomenon among perps to be seen on “Cops.” “We’ve even had suspects appear in more than one episode. One fellow we showed being arrested in Alaska and in Tennessee.

“Certainly we get those who want no part of us.

They have their faces blurred out. But we don’t want an anonymous show. Going into this, I was told it would be a legal nightmare. But it hasn’t been.” Meanwhile, Langley, who began as a maker of documentaries, has in “Cops” what should be considered the longestrunning documentary in the history of movies.

And, by our estimate, the most frequently asked questions heard in the longest running documentary are asked in the same conversation and in quick order: 1) “Then whose car is it?” 2) “What’s your friend’s name?” 3) “Your friend lent you his car and you don’t know his name?”