Deputy Ricky “Bobby” Steinert has busted hundreds of unruly drunks and drug addicts in his 10-year law enforcement career. But last month was a first — he did it live on reality TV.

Steinert, a St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy, is featured in the second season of MTV’s reality cop show “Busted: Behind the Badge.”

The second season of the 30-minute show set to air next summer slices three different cop agencies from across the nation into a hodgepodge of hilarious and quirky clips from streets arrests and traffic stops.

An MTV camera crew films a promo featuring Sheriff'��s Office deputy Ricky Steinert for its reality cop show '��Busted,'�� outside the Sheriff'��s Office complex in Slidell.

“People always think this stuff is already scripted,” Steinert said. “It’s not. Nothing is scripted.”

Through a connection with “America’s Most Wanted,” which aired a segment about a then-accused Covington killer on the lam in 2006, producers from L.A.-based Zoo Productions offered St. Tammany a chance at the limelight.

Sheriff Jack Strain agreed. The deal was a wrap.

“We knew the department is extremely friendly and relatable,” said supervising producer Kara Kurcz, who is also filming St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies for another show, “Speeders.” “They’re just like you and I. They want to educate as well as relate. That’s what we wanted.”

Weeks later, Steinert had cameras pointed at him 12 hours a day for five days.

First though, Steinert and the camera crew came up with a safety plan. When he first met the crew at the Sheriff’s Office complex in Slidell, they discussed semantics about bolting in and out of the car with a camera mounted to their shoulders. Steinart would give the ultimate OK. The signal? A simple head nod.

Although nothing filmed was too dangerous, the show does catch teenagers and 20-something drunks busted at a party, squealing tires or loitering.

In one episode yet to be aired but featured on the show’s Web site at www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/busted/series.jhtml, a male from Slidell was stopped for speeding and gave Steinert a fake ID. The clip has already made the No. 1 “Busted” moment based on Internet hits, even though it’s not been on TV.

In the clip, the man handed the ID to Steinert, who does a double take. The ID says the man is from Hawaii and ID’s him as McLovin, no first name, just McLovin, the same ID made popular in the last year’s comedy “Superbad,” where Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s character Fogell makes a fake ID to buy beer. To Steinart however, it wasn’t funny. He’s never seen the movie.

“The funny thing is, this guy thought it was all scripted. He had no idea we were for real.” Steinert said.

It wasn’t until several weeks ago when MTV flew Steinert and the man to its Time Square studios to discuss the show live that he realized he was truly “Busted.”

“It blew his mind,” Steinert said.

Like everyone else featured on the show, the man later signed a consent form and was paid $300 to allow production crews to use the footage.

But for Steinert, a self-described country boy from Natchitoches, his own big pay day came when he saw the big city lights of Times Square.

Steinert had never been to New York, much less Times Square, and he was a little nervous. He was told the segment would be plastered live on a digital billboard outside MTV offices.

Now, the self-proclaimed shy boy is recognized around his home in Slidell and even asked for autographs, he said, chuckling.

“I go to some stores around town, and they say, “You’re the guy I’ve seen on TV,” Steinert said. “Even when I book people at the jail, inmates say they’ve seen me.”

Even his 6-year-old daughter Makayla Bond called him and said, “Daddy, I see you on TV. Call me back.”

His buddies prod him the most, he said, asking for autograph pictures to remember his 15 minutes of fame.

“A lot of people say you’re going to have a big head and all that,” he said. “I say whatever, it hasn’t changed me. I’m just doing my job.”