The force said on Tuesday it was assessing whether footage from Benefits Street, which focuses on a community in Birmingham's Winson Green, could assist in ongoing investigations, or could warrant new inquiries being launched.
Media regulator Ofcom is understood to have received more than 100 complaints about the documentary series, which launched on Monday night, relating to unfair, misleading and offensive portrayals of benefits claimants, alleged criminal activity and excessive bad language.
The five-part series, made by independent producer Love Productions, features the inhabitants of James Turner Street, which Channel 4 claims has one of the highest proportions of benefits dependents in Britain.
Benefits Street is Channel 4's most popular show in more than a year,attracting more than 4 million viewers, but has been criticised by local residents, who have claimed to the Birmingham Mail they were tricked into appearing.
"Like many people across the country, we saw the footage broadcast on the programme for the first time last night. Throughout the programme and in the hours that have followed, we have been inundated with comments from members of the public, many of whom are concerned about elements of the show which showed criminal activity," said superintendent Danny Long.
"We are currently assessing whether the content of the programme can assist us as part of any ongoing investigations or indeed whether any new inquiries should be launched in light of the material that has been broadcast. This work is ongoing and viewers will have seen for themselves that my officers have already been actively involved with some of the individuals featured."
A Channel 4 spokesman said:"The production crew were filming in a purely observational capacity – at no stage was criminal behaviour encouraged or condoned. All contributors were briefed that if they carried out criminal activity on camera, this could result in criminal investigations after broadcast."
Long described Winson Green as a "diverse and vibrant community", adding that the force's Soho neighbourhood policing team, which covers James Turner Street, had a very positive relationship with local residents and community groups.
"Patrols are taking place by the local neighbourhood team as normal today and if anyone has any concerns whatsoever, they should not hesitate to give us a call on 101," he said.
James Turner Street residents told the Birmingham Mail they took part after film-makers assured them that the series would be about community spirit.
But they said the show paints residents as anti-social benefit scroungers, irresponsible parents, drug-takers and foul-mouthed wasters.
A Channel 4 spokesman told the paper: "This is a fair and balanced observational documentary series. It is a fair reflection of the reality of life on a street where the majority of households receive benefits.
"The contributors were briefed extensively before any filming took place. If any residents requested not to be filmed, they were not. The main contributors have been offered the opportunity to view the programmes they feature in before transmission to make any comments about their contributions.
"As far as we are aware, we have appropriate consent for any private phone calls that appear in the series."
Twitter users sent out abusive messages aimed at the James Turner Street residents.
Long said: "Last night's programme has clearly prompted a lot of discussion on social media and we monitor social networks as a matter of course. Anyone who sends offensive, abusive or threatening messages via social media could be committing a criminal offence.
He said in the first instance people should report material directly to Facebook or Twitter.
Long added: "If this does not resolve the issue, or if a person wishes to make a formal complaint to the police, they should call us on 101 to report the matter."
He later said: "We are assessing a number of tweets which were posted last night and investigating whether or not any criminal offences have been committed."
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