Killer Cop: Difference between revisions
Removed redundant examples parameter
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{{trope}}
{{quote|"The cop's the killer!"|'''Brian''' (and probably everyone else on this page) in ''[[Psycho Cop Returns]]''}}
This is pretty much [[Exactly What It Says
Note that despite the name, the
If the
# The crime scenes are jarringly devoid of any incriminating evidence. Either the killer is a forensics expert and cleaned up so thoroughly that they got rid of the evidence or they are a savvy police officer who has investigated many crime scenes and knows how to avoid leaving evidence in the first place. Note: This is not always a given, as a [[Serial Killer]] who ''isn't'' a member of law enforcement can avoid leaving evidence as well.
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## The ''real'' killer has such intimate knowledge of evidence and police work that they must be a member of law enforcement. Like the first sign, this isn't a given, as it is possible to research forensics.
In Crime Dramas, may be used as a [[Twist Ending]].
Note: A character can qualify for this even if they don't use their position or expertise to help with their murders. (However, if they appear in a murder mystery, they probably will.) See also [[Detective Mole]].
{{examples
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* [[Vigilante Man|Americop]] from ''[[Captain America (comics)]]''.
== Film ==
* The eponymous characters of the ''[[
* {{spoiler|[[Al Pacino]]}} in ''[[Righteous Kill]]''.
* Jim Belushi's character in the movie ''[[Gang Related]]''. He uses guns already tagged as evidence in other crimes to rob and kill drug dealers. Ironically, the one character he doesn't kill is his partner, played by Tupac Shakur.
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== Literature ==
* Robert Crais seems to like these: In ''L.A. Requiem'', the killer who was framing Joe Pike turned out to be {{spoiler|the guy who pushed the mail cart at police headquarters.}} In ''Demolition Angel'', the person who murdered Charlie Riggio was {{spoiler|his own partner on the Bomb Squad, Buck Daggett.}} In ''The Two Minute Rule'', the man who murdered the four officers was {{spoiler|William Cecil of the FBI Bank Squad.}}
* The protagonist from [[Jim Thompson]]'s novel ''The Killer Inside Me''.
* {{spoiler|The FBI Agent Denton and his cohorts}} in ''[[The Dresden Files|Fool Moon]].''
* {{spoiler|Frank Ennunzio, FBI Forensic Linguist}} in Lisa Gardner's novel, ''The Killing Hour''.
* In the [[Tom Clancy]] novel ''[[Without Remorse]]'', a [[Corrupt Cop]] murders a drug dealer that his (criminal) boss suspected of being a security risk. He even manages to do it in a way that causes multiple witnesses - police officers themselves - to honestly believe that the victim was shot in self-defense when he attempted to resist arrest.
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** Ray Langston, at the end of season 11. Not a cop, but still a CSI.
* ''[[CSI: NY]]'' had one of those, a cop that went dirty and murdered others to cover his tracks.
* In ''[[Criminal Minds]]'', the first episode that features The Reaper leads you to think that this might be the case. The Reaper was a serial killer who had stopped killing for ten years, then started killing again. In the original run of murders, he had killed a bunch of people, but left one victim alive. Ten years later, that victim was hiding from The Reaper by living at a number of different addresses and switching between them. At one of The Reaper's crime scenes, he left the victim's address numbers written on windows in blood, leading you to think that the lead detective from the local police department might be The Reaper.(Since he would've been one of the few people who knew the addresses, as they had been told to him by the victim.) However, [[Averted Trope|this turns out not to be the case.]] In reality, {{spoiler|the "victim" survived because he was The Reaper}}.
** Another episode features a cop that stages shootings so he can be the first to "save" the victim. Occasionally those victims die, but he is honored as a hero cop. He tries to kill {{spoiler|Peneloppe when he thinks she is on to him}}.
** In "Broken Mirror" it turns out one of the local FBI agents helping with the investigation is the perp, while "A Rite of Passage" has a Sheriff's Deputy turn out to be "Santa Muerte".
* On ''[[Bones]]'' serial kidnapper (and also killer) The Gravedigger turned out to be {{spoiler|United States Attorney and former FBI agent Heather Taffet}}, and chose self-representation during the trial.
** Also Agent Kenton in "Two Bodies In The Lab".
* On ''[[Frasier]]'' in [[That One Case]] that Martin has been working on for years, it turns out that the detective did it.
* One of the 1970s-era ''[[
* A recurring villain on ''[[
* In an episode of ''[[Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction?]]'', the protagonist of one story is a cop who discovers that [[The Killer in Me|he killed a young woman while sleepwalking.]] He is completely unaware of this until he compares the bullet found at the scene to one in his gun.
* An episode of ''[[Angel]]'' featured a police captain suppressing crime in his district by raising recently deceased police officers as zombies and having them indiscriminately and violently harass people on the streets after dark. They end up committing several murders themselves.
* {{spoiler|Detective Rick Messer aka The Bearded Man}} in ''[[Damages]]'', {{spoiler|who acts as a hit man for a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]}}. Plays with this as it isn't revealed that he's a cop until late on.
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== Video Games ==
* {{spoiler|Detective Adachi}} from ''[[Persona 4]]'' qualifies as one of these. Bonus points for the supernatural powers that helped him avoid leaving evidence.
* In the [[Adventure Game]] ''[[Laura Bow]] 2: The Dagger of Amon Ra'', the killer turns out to be {{spoiler|Ryan O'Reily, the detective working on the case}}.
* Kurtis Stryker of the ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' series.
* Case 1-5 of ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' has former detective and curent high prosecutor Lana Skye accused of murder. The real killer is {{spoiler|not just a killer cop, but a killer police chief.}}
** Not to mention killer {{spoiler|prosecutors Manfred von Karma and Godot and Jacques Portsman}} and killer {{spoiler|defense attorneys Calisto Yew and Kristoph Gavin.}}
== Webcomics ==
* [[
== Real Life ==
* There was a case once where the murderer turned out to be one of the cops working on the case. This was discovered after a visual reconstruction of the offender was created.
* There has been speculation that the [
* Serial killers [
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:Killer Cop]]
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