Top cop shows have dropped violent arrests, officers breaking into homes and dramatic police chases for vigilante stories in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
Dramas like Cops and Law & Order have turned to softer plots and even looked at community policing as the shows returned to screens.
Although some critics called for and predicted the death of the cop show genre – known colloquially as ‘copganda’ – during the racial reckoning in the wake of Floyd’s death, the programs continue to dominate the airwaves two years later.
They have since returned to join the ranks of at least 18 crime shows dominating primetime slots on major broadcast networks.
While three out of the five most-watched shows last season on networks were cop shows, according to New York Timestheir content has taken on a whole new attitude.
In the latest Law & Order spinoff, which premiered in 2021 organized crime, character Detective Elliot Stabler – long known for his use of excessive force – is depicted learning to police with less aggressive tactics, even learning some lessons from colleagues about the difficulties regarding being black, gay and female.
In the new CBS show East New York, a former field officer turned commander of a crime-ridden neighborhood in Brooklyn decides to use unorthodox tactics like asking his officers to move into housing projects.
Even in the latest season of the comedy police Brooklyn 99, a character leaves the police force in the wake of George Floyd to better serve society, leading to conflicts between characters about the effectiveness of police work.
In the latest Law & Order spinoff, which premiered in 2021, Organized Crime, the character Detective Elliot Stabler – long known for his use of excessive force – is depicted learning to police with less aggressive tactics
Left, a clip from the show Cops before George Floyd was murdered, right, a shot from the show after the murder
East New York co-creator William Finkelstein told The Times that the idea for the show was born directly out of creating a police show in the post-George Floyd world.
“Cop shows have been around since the flood — it’s always been part of television programming,” said Finkelstein, who has also written for Law & Order and NYPD Blue. “But in the wake of George Floyd and the enormous outrage that caused, especially when it was directed at police and police policy, the question was, ‘How do you do a police show?’”
Even with the reboot of Cops — which found a new home on Fox Nation after being dropped from the Paramount Network — the tone is noticeably different.
In an episode from the latest season of the show, a team of white cops in Indianapolis is shown providing extensive assistance to a black man who was the victim of a shooting. At the end of the episode, another group of white officers chastise a 7-year-old white boy for locking his mother out of the house.
The police have returned to the airwaves after being dismissed a month after George Floyd was murdered, but with many of the criminals shown to be white instead of black
Critics of cop shows have long argued that the genre perpetuates stereotypes, with ride-along shows pushing an image of sharply uniformed white cops battling perpetually criminal black people living in slums and poverty.
On dramatized shows, critics say that inappropriate police work—like illegal searches, interrogation techniques, and arrests—depicted to facilitate storytelling ends up creating a perception in the public psyche of the kinds of procedures that are normal in the line of duty.
“The glorification of cops and their power isn’t just a side effect of the action and crime dramas that movie and TV studios put out—it’s often the intent,” wrote critic Kelly Lawler in USA today a month after Floyd was murdered, ‘Cop shows are created to valorize the police.’
Lawler even quoted Fox producer Chris Long, who said his since-cancelled police show Deputy was inspired by Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell’s request to ‘portray the department in a way that’s accurate and help him show young people that becoming a deputy is a good thing and all the negative publicity about being a police officer or sheriff’s deputy is the bad apples [that] don’t destroy the whole batch.’
In an episode of the latest season of Cops, a group of white cops punish a 7-year-old white boy for locking his mother out of the house
In October 2020, the Hollywood Reporter asked 50 showrunners how they would create a cop show in the current climate, and the overwhelming responses referenced community policing, police re-education, and ideas that leaned toward portraying cops as violent animals.
“Show the successful transition to ‘police’ in the community, which would hopefully make for a boring, uneventful show that would be canceled,” said Issa Rae, showrunner for Insecure.
‘Show how reorganisation, retraining of the police could be the answer to the current problems within the police institution,’ #BlackAF showrunner Kenya Barris wrote.
‘Create a world where every time a police officer kills someone, someone in that police officer’s family dies instantly. So whatever grief they inflict, they will also be inflicted upon them. Maybe we could call it Eye for an Eye,’ said Twenties showrunner Lena Waithe.