New York City Cops



""New York City cops

New York City cops

New York City cops

They ain't too smart!""

- The Strokes "New York City Cops" (2001)

Okay, not exactly true. New York's Finest are, in reality, plenty competent, with a few exceptions. In fiction, however, the NYPD are usually portrayed as gritty dudes more than willing to bend a few rules to get what they want, not particularly interested in the particulars.

This is rooted in some historical truth. Throughout the 19th century, parts of New York (most famously the Five Points neighborhood in the Bowery) were damn near lawless. To contend with the territorial packs of criminality, the NYPD (modern policing was still a new idea, believe it or not) learned to function as, in essence, a very organized street gang. But, you know, for justice. Cops began to stake out turf, walking around in groups of three or more, and generally being as intimidating as possible. These practices are now common with law enforcement in every major American city. Nonetheless, broad swaths of New York City remained unpoliceable well into the 1980s.

Until recently, New York City had a number of separate police agencies. Transit Police, Library Police, even the Sanitation Department had their own Garbage Police! These have all been merged into (or back into, in the case of the Transit Police, who originally were part of the NYPD until about 1948) the NYPD.

Another major leap in this trend of localization began in 1994, under Mayor Giuliani. His plan granted more power to individual precincts to make localized decisions, harsh punishment for relatively minor infractions like public urination and graffiti tagging, and what some have claimed amounts to de facto racial profiling. These and other less political factors contributed to a significant drop in criminal activity (at least on paper) and, more recently, to the lowest violent crime rate of any major city in the United States. It also led to an increase in allegations of civil rights abuses and misconduct.

Since September 11th (when the NYPD lost 23 officers), extra equipment has been added to the patrol officer's belt, including a gas mask. Even reality-intensive portrayals of the NYPD may neglect this detail, as it looks completely ridiculous and clumsy -- and as told by many cops forced to wear the stuff, it is. In addition, the NYPD now occasionally posts paramilitary troops (complete with body armor and assault rifles) outside major shopping locations, subway and rail stations, and other potential terrorist targets. They also have had undercover officers sent along with the FBI and CIA, thanks to one of the chiefs being ex-CIA and interested in counter-terrorism.

A common accompanying character is the wise-cracking New York cop, perhaps best illustrated by the late Jerry Orbach's Lennie Briscoe in Law and Order.

Examples:

The NYPD turns up a lot in fiction set in New York City (indeed, the NYPD even has a dedicated Film Division just to assist in live action works), so we'll just limit ourselves to stuff where they are the stars. Expect many of these to be set in the "12th Precinct", which if it really existed would place the show in Lower Manhattan.

Anime & Manga

 * FAKE: Is about two detectives in the fictional 27th precinct.

Comic Books

 * Witchblade
 * Virtually every single Marvel Comics title. The Red Shirts of the Marvel Universe. The NYPD has such a high casualty rate, it's a wonder that they get any new recruits.
 * One notable exception to this is Code Blue, a sort of SWAT-plus team fielded by the NYPD. They're good enough to handle middling villains from Thor's rogues' gallery, and actually backs up a SHIELD team and Thunderstrike on one occasion.

Film
""N-Y-P-D means I will kNock Your Punk-ass Down!""
 * Big Business
 * Black Rain
 * Blue Steel
 * The Bone Collector
 * City By The Sea
 * The Corruptor
 * Cop Land
 * The Dark Knight: Gotham PD appears to be based on them. The uniforms, badges, patches, and cruisers look very similar.
 * Die Hard
 * Die Hard With a Vengeance
 * Live Free or Die Hard
 * Fort Apache The Bronx
 * The French Connection
 * French Connection II
 * One of Jason's victims in Friday the 13 th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan was a cop who tried to help the protagonists.
 * Fritz the Cat
 * Gangs of New York
 * The Hard Way
 * Inside Man
 * Little Nicky
 * Matt Cordell of Maniac Cop films is a former one.
 * Men in Black


 * Money Train
 * The Naked City
 * One Good Cop
 * Prince of the City
 * Q&A
 * Ransom
 * Rumble in The Bronx
 * Serpico
 * Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.
 * Shaft
 * Summer Of Sam
 * Superfly
 * Taxi
 * The Seven-Ups
 * The Usual Suspects
 * The Warriors
 * We Own The Night
 * World Trade Center

Literature

 * Agent Pendergast
 * The Section 13 Case Files

Live Action TV

 * Barney Miller - Widely regarded by actual law enforcement, then and now, as the series that best depicts the reality of police life.
 * Blue Bloods
 * Cagney & Lacey
 * Car 54, Where Are You?
 * Castle
 * CSI: NY
 * Kojak
 * Law & Order
 * Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
 * Law & Order: Criminal Intent
 * Law & Order: Trial by Jury
 * Life On Mars (US version)
 * McCloud
 * Miami Vice - One of the two leads is a former Bronx cop who winds up in Miami tracking down his brother's murderer.
 * Naked City
 * New Amsterdam
 * New York Undercover
 * NYC 22
 * N.Y.P.D.
 * NYPD Blue
 * The Job
 * Third Watch
 * True Blue
 * The Unusuals

Theatre

 * Detective Story

Video Games

 * Parasite Eve
 * Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy in North America), being a murder mystery set in New York City, naturally features a lot of these, and two of the four player characters are investigators themselves. The beat cops do not wear typical NYPD uniformed, instead being costumed in some alternate universe blue and yellow fashion statement.
 * Max Payne
 * Grand Theft Auto. As the LCPD in any game featuring Liberty City.
 * True Crime New York City

Western Animation

 * The best friend of the Gargoyles, Elisa Maza, is a New York City detective. Her father is a retired cop and her brother was a cop until Xanatos turned him into a Mix-and-Match Man. They, as well as Elisa's conspiracy-obsessed partner Matt Bluestone and her boss Captain Chavez are all recurring characters. They largely don't follow the stereotypes, however.