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What's Toughest Cops all about?
"You see the lives of these real cops and how they're dealing with [trouble]. It's fight fire with fire, a case of 'you shoot at us, we're going to shoot at you'. The footage is shocking. On the next street corner to where our crew were filming, people were getting shot and the cops had to deal with that. It's incredible."
Are you there as well?
"No, not in this series. If this goes well I will be doing exactly that - getting out there on the frontline - in the next series."
Did watching the footage change any of your perceptions?
"Absolutely, this will open the eyes of a lot of people. Some of the stuff [we filmed] you would think is fit for the army, not the local coppers."
Do you think it's right that cops should be fighting back?
"People watching this will definitely say 'our coppers should take a leaf out of their book'. It really is the way to deal with criminals and with people taking the piss out of society."
How could you apply that in our country?
"I live in America and if the cops pull you over, you crap yourself. There's a regard there that cops are the law. You see coppers here having to face some of these so-called petty criminals, and they're giving them all the mouth: 'We know our rights', this that and the other. They should be dealt with properly, you know what I mean?"
Have you seen a similar show, Ross Kemp On Gangs, and what do you think of it?
"I think it's brilliant. I think Ross has done fantastic on that. He's won a lot of awards and rightly so. We're bringing this to people's living rooms. I already know from the ITV people that if the interest is there, I've got to get off my arse and mix it with them [next series]."
Is it true you manage a celebrity football team in the States?
"I own it, yeah. I used to play for a team called Hollywood United, but then I left them and started up my own team called Hollywood All-Stars. We've got various people playing for us - celebrities, local lads and English lads - we're sort of like the Harlem Globetrotters of football out there. I finance it and a friend of mine runs it."
How's the team doing?
"We actually lost the League on Sunday on penalties. That was our first season, so we've come a long way. We started with four of us on Santa Monica beach, now we've got 45 players signed on."
Who's in the lineup?
"Our latest recruitment is Georgie Best's son, Calum. Ruud Gullit comes down, we've got one or two lads from the porno industry, a couple of stand-up comics and a couple of producers. It's very hard to get a game of football over there as there are only a couple of leagues. We say 'if you want to play football, come and play with us'. We play seven-a-sides on a Thursday nights and 11-a-side on a Sunday."
Vinnie Jones' Toughest Cops airs Mondays at 10pm on ITV4.
