So You Want To/Write a Police Procedural: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Dragnet]]'' by Jack Webb has to be mentioned as it basically started the modern genre and the radio series and first TV series episodes are freely accessible in the public domain. However, the series definitely a part of its time and the later ''Dragnet 1967'' through ''1970'' proves that with the characters struggling awkwardly in the contemporary realities.

* Obviously ''[[The Wire]]'' counts, which was not just the greatest police procedural created for television, but also, in many people's opinion, the best show created for television. Period. Starting with an incredibly realistic portrayal of the inner-workings of the Baltimore City Police department in its first season, the show would expand out in its following four seasons to examine the inner-workings of various other institutions (these being in order a stevedore's union, the Baltimore city government, the Baltimore school system, and the Baltimore Sun) and how these institutions contributed to the urban-crime problems that plagued the city. Particular strengths of the series include its extensive cast of expertly portrayed, well-developed characters, its uncommonly deep exploration of sociopolitical themes, and Omar Little.

* Although it crosses over with a [[Slasher Movie]] and an action movie, ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'' does a very good job of depicting life in the modern British police force. It's also rather rare in this genre in that it focusses primarily on the uniformed officers rather than the detectives.

* Another British example would be [[The Bill]]. It was set in a regular police station in inner-city London, and the majority of it's plots revolved around mundane, ordinary police work of the 'rescue a cat which has got stuck in a tree' variety, rather than murder investigations. It was very specific in depicting complete accuracy to proper police procedure, such as the writers having put vast amounts of research into how it is that real-life officers conduct interviews with suspects, and showing that research on screen in minute detail. It was also one of the few television police procedurals that bucked the trend of avoiding depicting the paperwork that an officer must do in their day to day life: it wasn't uncommon for a case being investigated in ''The Bill'' to subsequently be shown to collapse in court because of an officer's neglect when writing up their notes at the time of an incident taking place, creating enough 'reasonable doubt' for the jury to return a not guilty verdict. The series did evolve away from such lofty ambitions as strict accuracy as time when on, picking up aspects of [[Crime-Time Soap]] (and all the unfortunate dramatic shorthand that goes with it). But on the whole, for most of it's remarkable 27 year run it was a perfect example of how to do this kind of thing right.

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[[Category:Write A Police Procedural]]