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Space Police: Difference between revisions
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** The revamped post-Rebirth Corps now has two Lanterns per sector, who are even referred to as police-style back-up. Earth actually has four Lanterns, but only two (Jordan and Stewart) operate in Sector 2814, while the others (Gardner and Rayner) are specialists based out of Oa.
** The GLC is also unusual (at least by comic book standards) in how far they take the law enforcement metaphor, having things like badges, allotments of vacation days, and specialized departments like the Alpha Lanterns who are an [[Internal Affairs]] department within the Corps. They've also been seen ''investigating'' crime like real-life detectives rather than just blasting bad guys through walls.
** Their limited number is partly justified by the fact that they tend to assist local law enforcement where feasible (eg. if Hal Jordan runs into a human supervillain, even one of his own enemies, they are more likely to be thrown in an Earth jail than an Oan one); there may be other superheroes in the area (eg. Earth again, which has the [[Justice League]], of which Hal is a member, and many others) who at the very least can act as support, or outright allies; and because sci-fi writers ''do'' have a [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|sense of scale]] as the majority of star systems will likely have only one inhabitable planet, if any at all, and many won't even want or need a GL, assuming they've reached a level of technological advancement that would make one feasible in the first place. In many respects they are more like an intergalactic Interpol than a real police force, 'cept more proactive.
* In the ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' comics, there were the Science Police, who wavered from allies to antagonists between adaptations.
* In the [[Marvel Universe]], the Nova Corps (which were very similar to the GLC in many ways).
** The current ''Nova'' series takes this and runs with it. The suggestion of Ego the Living Planet becoming a Corpsman (instantly dismissed as "crazy"; what's actually happening is a bit more complex), is a clear [[Shout-Out]] to Mogo.
* Another organization from [[The DCU]], a modern-era precursor to the [[Legion of Super-Heroes]] called L.E.G.I.O.N. (Licensed Extra-Governmental Interstellar Operatives Network), was founded to fill the gap left by the Green Lantern Corps after they disbanded for a short time in the late '80s. They're about halfway between a police force and a mercenary outfit, and bump heads with the Green Lanterns fairly often.
** They've also twice been taken over by villains (in the later issues of their regular book, and in a current miniseries), leading to the good guys becoming R.E.B.E.L.S.
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* The narrator of the short story [http://abyssandapex.com/201004-black.html "The Black Sheep of Vaerlosi"] by Desmond Warzel is a space customs agent.
* Often described as a "[[We Will Use Wiki Words in the Future|peacenforcer]]" in novels by [[Harry Harrison]].
* [[Jack Vance]]'s Gaean Reach stories used the Interworld Police Coordination Company. It started as a private firm to exchange information about criminals between planetary jurisdictions, but eventually grew to a level of authority where a senior IPCC representative felt himself justified in summarily executing several corrupt local cops.
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* The robotic "Space Filth" in ''[[Red Dwarf]]''.
* Gerry Anderson's ''Space Precinct'' was a rare live action series about this, with a strong New York City feel. It didn't do so well.
** ''[[Space Precinct]]'' was a reworking of a pilot Anderson had produced about ten years before hand called ''Space Police'', the title was changed upon learning that Lego had a toyline called Space Police (see below). The series didn't have a lot to do with this trope anyway, aside from the title; it was a fairly standard cop show [[Recycled in Space|With TACKED-ON CYBERPUNK ELEMENTS!]]
* ''[[Farscape]]'s'' Peacekeepers were initially created to act as a neutral peacekeeping force by powerful aliens in the far distant past. Over time, they became [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|interstellar fascists]].
* The series ''Space Rangers''. The premise was a 'Texas Rangers' type organization operating in space.
* ''[[Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger|Special Police Dekaranger]]/PowerRangersSPD'' are a ''[[Super Sentai]]'' version, right down to lightbars in their helmets.
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* ''[[Star Cops]]'' was short-lived British 'hard' sci-fi series about the International Space Police Force -- nicknamed the "Star Cops" - who provide law enforcement for the newly developing colonies of the Solar System.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]''. The Judoon are mercenary police (though the Doctor derides them as "intergalactic thugs"). "The Eleventh Hour" gives us the [[Starfish Aliens|considerably weirder]] but more callous Atraxi.
** 25th century Earth's Adjudication Bureau get mentioned in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S8
* ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' ("Arena").
{{quote|'''Kirk:''' Out here we're the only policemen around, and a crime has been committed.}}
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* The Spectres in ''[[Mass Effect]]'', who are given special rights by the Citadel Council that places them above the law and allows them to take whatever measures are necessary to ensure galactic peace. C-Sec fulfills the role of normal police.
** The Spectres are more like interstellar [[James Bond]]-figures than police, though. C-Sec only operates in the systems closest to the Citadel, so they aren't quite universal police force, either.
* ''[[
** Some corporations and vigilantes attempt to enforce their own brand of justice outside Concord-secured space, as well. Given that non-secured space is one of the most brutal free-for-alls in all of video game history, the actual effectiveness of their efforts is debatable.
* In ''Magical Starsign'', this is half-subverted- there really IS a "Space Police" in this game, but they are {{spoiler|almost completely controlled by the head villain of the game.}} Plus, the officers tend to prefer paperwork over, well, real work, and are usually pushovers in battle (or in one case, living stools for one of the bosses).
* Will exist in [[Infinity the Quest For Earth]], to provide safe areas called "cores".
* ''[[Space Channel 5]] Part 2'' has the Sexy Space Police.
* The title of ''[[Policenauts]]'' refers to a group of five Earth-based policemen who were chosen to uphold law and order in the space colony Beyond Coast. They are succeeded by the Beyond Coast Police Department, which functions like a regular police department, although the actual law enforcement in the colony is carried out by the Advance Police unit, which serves as the BPC's equivalent to a SWAT team (with <s>[[Mecha]]</s> [[A Mech by Any Other Name|EMPS]]).
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