Copaganda

Thinking about the topic of copaganda, or cop procedural shows that distort the reality of police work. Mostly, they don’t catch the criminals. But in shows like the CSI franchise, they always do. By the end of the episode.

The procedural works out conveniently. The criminal leaves a clue, the detectives find the clue, and the police arrest the criminal. In some cases, we see the criminal in court and everything works out so the judge hands down sentence and the criminal goes to jail. The end. We’re all safe and sound in our tidy little homes.

The major problem with copaganda is that a lot of people believe this portrayal of police work. These shows rarely portray the many, many cold cases. The cases that police seem to not be overly concerned about. And all of people who get caught up in a legal system fraught with mistakes.

As writers, we can make a case to correct this. Though often, shows that seem closer to reality aren’t shows about cops. The Alaska Daily, new this season on ABC, offers a more realistic portrayal of police, expose that it’s a show about news reporters. It swings the other way, portraying sheriffs in rural Alaska who are (we suspect) corrupt, or at least complicit in corruption.

The corrupt cop is also a valid portrayal, but it’s also not the norm. Most cops are just people who may be unaware of their own biases in how they view certain types of people and certain types of crimes. They probably try to do a good job, most of the time, but they’re also fallible.

School shootings receive a lot of media coverage and what is emerges are portraits of regular people who happen to be cops, who have as much to lose as the victims. And I’ve heard the argument that the cops who don’t confront the gunmen with automatic weapons are cowards, and I’d agree with that, but I don’t say that to disparage the person who’s job it is to fulfill America’s cop fantasies.

They are just as mortal as you. They have ever reason to be afraid of the powerful weapons of war now found on American streets. And by the way, they don’t make that much. I mean, if we think someone is supposed to out their life on the line, the least we could do is pay them more. But even then, putting themselves in harm’s way isn’t worth it.

I think it’s time to rethink the copanganda shows and provide a more realistic portrayal so that Americans understand that cops are just people.