Old-Fashioned Copper: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:tom-smith-
{{quote|''Smooths the bumps from Justice's path with 'is truncheon, does 'e?''|'''Inspector Abberline''' on Sgt. William Thick, ''[[From Hell]]''.}}
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At the one extreme are those with a tendency to favour "old fashioned" methods of policing, which usually involve beating up suspects, fabricating confessions (a process known as "verballing") and planting evidence. Being corrupt, [[Noble Bigot with a Badge|misogynist, racist etc.]] is optional. Basically, the British version of the [[Cowboy Cop]].
At the other end is the [[Dixon of Dock Green]] trope, an [[Cyclic Trope|even
British cop shows found many intermediates between these extremes and often had characters representing different versions within the same show.
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* DCI Gene Hunt from ''[[Life On Mars]]''. In some respects, he underplays reality- there were quite a few coppers like him.
* George Dixon, of ''[[Dixon of Dock Green]]'', is generally taken as the canonical example of the 'old fashioned bobby', firm but scrupulously fair, and the source of the [[Catch Phrase]] "Evening, all".
* ''Hamish Macbeth'' ([[Hamish Macbeth (novel)|books]] and [[Hamish Macbeth (TV series)|TV series]]) gently spoofs the
* Jack Halford, Gerry Standing and Brian Lane in ''[[New Tricks]]'', although they cheerfully excuse their flagrant bending of the rules with the (reasonable) justification that technically they aren't ''actually'' police officers any more.
* Although the show was made when the "old-fashioned copper" technically wasn't old-fashioned, since the values represented were alive and well in the '70s, the cops on ''[[The Sweeney]]'' are pretty much the archetypal characters who represent this trope.
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*** Fred and Nobby skirt the edge; in Night Watch they were definitely headed that way, but in the later novels seem to realize that sort of thing just isn't done anymore, though they do seem a bit vague on exactly ''why'' (other than that if they do it and Vimes finds out... and Vimes ''will'' find out... he'll go ''spare'' - or ''librarian poo'' in the vernacular).
* DCI Alexander Seawoll in ''[[Rivers of London]]'', big, brawny, likes to swear a lot, hates paperwork and coppers who do magic. Also a policeman to his bones and knows exactly what to say and what not to say in a cover-up or witch-hunt.
* ''Hamish Macbeth'' ([[Hamish Macbeth (novel)|books]] and [[Hamish Macbeth (TV series)|TV series]]) gently spoofs the
* [[Robert Westall]] often had policemen at either end of the scale appear in his work. ''[[Futuretrack Five]]'' had more corrupt British Police; a scruffier, less-disciplined and easier to con or bribe force than the unswerving [[Elite Mooks|Paramils]]. ''[[Break of Dark]]'' had Sergeant Nice; a copper who volunteered to do school talks, cycling proficiency tests and saves worms from being trampled on the station doormat.
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