WHY I HATE TV COPS (AND TV COP SHOWS)
*Answers come to them more readily than to real cops—much too easily.
*Their smugness sets my teeth on edge. They’re so sure they’re right, unlike real cops, who are full of doubts: Did I get the right perp? Or was I in such a rush to judgment that I overlooked evidence that might disprove my conclusion (i.e., selective inattention)? I wish TV detectives were more like Petrovitch in Crime and Punishment and much, much less smug. To paraphrase Colin Wilson, “I wish I was as sure of anything as (fill in the blank) is about everything.”
*Attitude towards perps is uniformly (pun intended) superior and condescending. (Well, it seems they got that right.)
*We rarely get to see them as human beings, mostly as tools of the state. (One of the things I loved about Homicide: Life on the Streets was how real the characters were: full of doubts, sometimes tormented by guilt, willing to be right even if it cost them—emotionally and/or professionally. I especially treasured the bar scenes, where you really got to hear their thoughts and feelings with less editing.)
*In an increasingly fascistic society--and even under Obama that won’t change much, at least not soon--deifying police is especially dangerous. As Orson Welles wrote in his script for Touch of Evil, “A policeman’s job is only easy in a police state.” That is as it should be. (Please note that line of dialogue was spoken by later-NRA spokesman and Second Amendment defender Charlton Heston. Heston, as an A-list star, could have used his influence with the studio to soften or eliminate that line. He didn’t.)
*There are too damn many of them. Also, there are too damn many doctor shows (although at least some of them show real doctors dealing with real patients.)
*I think—based on my experience and research—that most cops are either on the take, ex-jocks/military with an itch to beat on those less fortunate, or just in it for the money and benefits. Too few Serpicos, too damn many (fill in the blanks).
